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on Confederation of Independent States |
| By: | Gerhard Mangott |
| Abstract: | This report tracks the major geo-economic and geo-strategic ruptures between the EU and Russia on the future patterns of gas supplies and shipping routes to the EU and the Western Balkans. It identifies the objectives and interests of the actors involved in this struggle: Russia, the EU, various EU members, the countries of the Caspian Basin (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan) and the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Egypt) as well as the Maghreb countries (Algeria, Libya). It analyses in great detail the colliding interests of all actors at the intersection of business and (geo-) politics. |
| Keywords: | energy security, EU, Russia, gas, Southern Gas Corridor, South Stream, Nabucco |
| JEL: | F14 F59 L71 L78 L95 Q41 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:367&r=cis |
| By: | Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Studies Program. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); Andrey Timofeev (International Studies Program. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | Until 2009, the Russian economy had been enjoying above 5% annual growth since it hit bottom along with the oil prices in 1998. However, the dynamics of the economic recovery have been very uneven across Russian regions. Thus, the determinants of regional economic growth are likely to have a strong sub-national level component. In this paper we examine the potential role played by the fiscal relations between regional governments and their constituent localities. Our empirical results strongly suggest that intra-regional fiscal inequality across local governments and inter-jurisdictional equalization policies pursued by the regional governments have a substantial impact on regional growth. Specifically, we find the following policy tradeoff: one standard deviation higher level of regional equalization translates into half a standard deviation lower rate of regional growth. One question for future research is whether decentralization designs into a hierarchical system result in more local government equalization in comparison to other inter-governmental design, such as a bifurcated system, where the central government is in charge of local equalization. |
| Date: | 2010–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1011&r=cis |