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on Confederation of Independent States |
| By: | Hartmut Lehmann; Anzelika Zaiceva |
| Abstract: | This paper takes stock of informal employment in Russia analyzing its incidence and determinants, developing several measures of informal employment and demonstrating that the incidence varies widely across the different definitions. We, however, show that the determinants of informal employment are roughly stable across the different measures. We also estimate an informal-formal wage gap at the means and across the entire wage distributions. We find only weak evidence for labor market segmentation in Russia for salaried workers but establish a segmented informal sector with a lower free entry tier and an upper rationed tier when including the self-employed and entrepreneurs Classification-JEL: J31, J40, P23 |
| Keywords: | Informal employment, transition economies, labor market segmentation, Russia Length: pages 39 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:098&r=cis |
| By: | Sabine Stephan; Jonas Löbbing |
| Abstract: | Between 1999 and 2012 the EU intensified its trade relations with countries outside the European Union (third countries). However, the major part (about 60 %) of the EU member states' external trade consists of trade with each other (intra-trade). In past years, the EU has benefited from the catching-up process of the emerging economies - especially China and Russia - and the associated strong demand for capital goods and production facilities. Consequently, China and Russia became more important trading partners for the EU, whereas the US and Japan declined in importance. Unlike EU's foreign trade with countries outside the EU, the foreign trade among EU member states has not yet recovered from the massive slump due to the economic and financial crisis 2008/2009. This is mainly due to the fact that many European countries have followed a strict austerity policy which has severely depressed domestic demand. While it may have longer-run impacts, in the short run the proposed Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement will do little to reverse the relative decline in EU-US trade, much less can it be expected to serve as a stimulus for economic recovery. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imk:report:83e-2013&r=cis |
| By: | Evgeny A. Antipov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Some Internet stores manage to charge prices that are significantly higher than market averages, therefore, obtaining some sort of price premium. This paper is dedicated to building a model that can be used to explain and predict a typical price premium that an Internet store charges for a specific product based on the information about the characteristics of the store and the features of the market for this product. Such models can provide support for pricing and assortment decisions: in particular, they allow detecting products that a store is likely to sell with the highest or the lowest markup based on price premia that are charged by stores with similar characteristics on similar markets |
| Keywords: | hierarchical linear modeling, e-Commerce, price dispersion |
| JEL: | L81 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:19man2014&r=cis |
| By: | Timm, Christian |
| Abstract: | The article analyzes state dominance in Georgia's economy between 2003 and 2010 from the perspective of the (new) developmental state. The specific interlinkage of economic model, law and administration through which state interventions may generate market-enhancing effects provides the analytical framework for the examination of Georgia's institutional setting. The article argues that Georgia enjoyed favorable exogenous conditions for the emergence of a developmental state and was about to introduce a set of administrative features similar to developmental states. However, two factors significantly shaped state-economy relations different to developmental states. Firstly, Georgia opted for a radical anti-corruption-driven separation of state and economy and pursued, consequently, a strict Washington Consensus economic policy. In doing so, the government simultaneously abandoned effective formal instruments for the politically relevant steering of the distribution of economic advantages. This in turn increased the necessity for informal interventions in economic processes contradicting the chosen economic model. Secondly, the flexibility-approach of the government, which relied rather on capable managers than on structures and procedures, undermined the administrative reforms and prevented the emergence of an 'embedded autonomy' of the public service. The absence of a capable, institutional learning and autonomous administration must be seen as the major obstacle for the elaboration of appropriate strategies after 2008 when the government altered its neo-liberal approach towards state-managed capitalism. Although the government was able to steer private and public investments in the specific sectors by relying on its informal coercive power, the economic success of this economic policy, however, failed to appear. The article argues that the lack of an independent administration and the renunciation of means of formal coordination and of law in general are to be made responsible for this. In doing so, Georgian policy makers also waived the chance to reconcile their agenda of sustainable economic growth with the agenda of political power preservation. The study seeks to contribute to the question of institutional prerequisites for successful state interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and, hence, to the growing literature on Post-Washington Consensus and New Developmentalism. -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:pfhrps:201402&r=cis |
| By: | Delwar Hossain |
| Abstract: | The study examines the role of foreign capital and remittance inflows in the domestic savings of 63 developing countries for 1971-2010, paying attention to likely differential effects of FDI, portfolio investment, foreign aid and remittance. The conventional homogeneous panel estimates suggest that foreign aid and remittance flows have a significant negative impact on domestic savings. However, these techniques ignore cross section dependence and parameter heterogeneity properties and thus yield biased and inconsistent estimates. When we allow for parameter heterogeneity and cross sectional dependence by employing the Pesaran’s (2006) Common Correlated Effects Mean Group estimator technique, only remittances crowd-out savings. |
| Keywords: | Domestic savings, Foreign capital inflows, Foreign Aid. Models with panel data |
| JEL: | C23 E21 E22 F21 F35 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2014-07&r=cis |
| By: | Antonio Di Paolo (University of Barcelona); Aysýt Tansel (Middle East Technical University) |
| Abstract: | Foreign language skills represent a form of human capital that can be rewarded in the labor market. Drawing on data from the Adult Education Survey of 2007, this is the first study estimating returns to foreign language skills in Turkey. We contribute to the literature on the economic value of language knowledge, with a special focus on a country characterized by fast economic and social development. Although English is the most widely spoken foreign language in Turkey, we initially consider the economic value of different foreign languages among the employed males aged 25 to 65. We find positive and significant returns to proficiency in English and Russian, which increase with the level of competence. Knowledge of French and German also appears to be positively rewarded in the Turkish labor market, although their economic value seems mostly linked to an increased likelihood to hold specific occupations rather than increased earnings within occupations. Focusing on English, we also explore the heterogeneity in returns to different levels of proficiency by frequency of English use at work, birth-cohort, education, occupation and rural/urban location. The results are also robust to the endogenous specification of English language skills. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2013/14&r=cis |