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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Tresiman, Daniel |
| Abstract: | What explains the divergent political paths that the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have followed since the fall of the Berlin Wall? While some appear today to be consolidated democracies, others have all the features of consolidated autocracy. This study reviews the patterns of change and examines correlates of progress towards democracy. Variation across post-communist countries in the degree of democracy twenty years after the start of transition can be parsimoniously explained by two variables: the length of time the country spent under a communist regime and—within the former Soviet Union, but not Eastern Europe—the proportion of Muslim adherents in the population. |
| Keywords: | democracy, transition, post-communism, Islam |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-31&r=tra |
| By: | Cornia, Giovanni Andrea |
| Abstract: | During the socialist era the communist regime attempted to reduce development differentials among states and social classes. In contrast, during the last 20 years, the economies in transition experienced considerable divergence in the economic, social, demographic and political areas. As a result, these countries can now be grouped into four structurally different clusters alternatively dependent on manufactured exports, high- and low-tech services, commodities exports, and migrant remittances. Between 2000 and 2007, the cluster with the fastest growth was not that which most reformed its economy and institutions, but that of commodity exporters where, however, life expectancy improved far less than in other clusters. |
| Keywords: | structural transformation, divergence, performance, country clusters |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-32&r=tra |
| By: | Matei, Ani; Popa, Florin |
| Abstract: | Central and Eastern Europe has known in the last 20 years profound changes. The shift from a dictatorial system to a democratic system forced the states from this area to adopt structural measures for all public institutions. In this context, the institution of “civil servant” could not remain unaffected. In the period of communist regimes, the institution of “civil servant” did not exist, the civil servant being just a simple employee of the state. Work relations were the same as for any employee. The shift to another political system, the democratic one, determined the reconsideration the role and the place of public administration, and implicit of civil servant in the framework of the state system. In this context, it has been a shift from the statute of simple employee to that of civil servant, representing the power of the state. In the process of accession to the European Union, the states from Central and Eastern Europe have been permanently pressured to clearly define a strategy concerning the competitiveness of public administration, concerning the statute and the career of civil servant. In the context of democratisation, we can notice that the principle of meritocracy has become a key principle in the civil servant’s career. The term “meritocracy” is often used in order to describe a type of society in which wealth and social position are obtained mainly through competition or through ability or proved competences. A position invested with responsibilities and social prestige has to be acquired and not inherited or obtained by arbitrary criteria. Meritocracy represents also the term used to describe or to criticise a society in competition that accepts inequitable disparities of income, wealth and social position. Taking into account the above considerations, the present paper aims to achieve an analysis of meritocratic aspects in the systems of planning and promotion of civil servant’s career in Central and Eastern Europe |
| Keywords: | Meritocracy;IQ;Civil service;Central and Eastern States;Weberiannes Scale;Empirical Studies |
| JEL: | D73 H83 |
| Date: | 2010–04–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22431&r=tra |
| By: | Kolesnikova, Irina |
| Abstract: | In this paper the impact of various types of state aid on aggregate productivity growth in Belarusian manufacturing is investigated by combining the data on government support with firm-level accounting data for period 1998-2007. Obtained results indicate that the state aid provided for restructuring truly leads to the modernization of the enterprises (capital-to-labor ratio grows), that this modernization leads to an increase in effectiveness (TFP grows, especially at large enterprises), and that this growth of TFP allows the newly restructured enterprises to raise their market share which results in the growth of the allocative efficiency. However, when the state aid is provided to support enterprises in financial distress, while it leads to an increase in employment (only for enterprises receiving aid, especially for large enterprises, but not for the total sample) and to an expansion in the market share of large enterprises (not small and medium size), this achievement comes at the expense of the decrease in TFP. |
| Keywords: | State aid; total factor productivity; allocative efficiency; Arellano-Bond method. |
| JEL: | C13 O25 O49 C33 L53 |
| Date: | 2010–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22403&r=tra |
| By: | Ana Fernandes (University of Sussex); Heiwai Tang (Tufts University and Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano) |
| Abstract: | Using detailed product-level export data for China and a variant of the Antràs and Helpman (2004) model that includes investments in component search, we examine the sectoral determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) versus foreign outsourcing in export processing trade. We exploit the coexistence of two regulatory export processing regimes in China, which specify who owns and controls the imported components for export processing. We find that in the regime that Chinese plants own the imported components, the share of exports from vertically integrated plants is increasing in the intensity of headquarter inputs across sectors, and is decreasing in the contractibility of inputs. These results are consistent with the property- rights theory of intra-firm trade. However, in the regime that foreign firms own the imported components, no significant relationship is found between the prevalence of vertical integration, headquarter intensity and input contractibility across sectors. The positive relationship between productivity dispersion and the export share of integrated plants across sectors, as suggested by the existing literature, is found only in the regime that foreign firms own the imported components. These results are consistent with our model, which considers ownership of imported components as an alternative to asset ownership to alleviate the hold-up problem by the export-processing plant. |
| Keywords: | Intra rm trade, Vertical integration, Export processing, Outsourcing |
| JEL: | F14 F23 L14 L33 |
| Date: | 2010–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:289&r=tra |
| By: | Krasniqi, Armand |
| Abstract: | In this work it is presented the issue of legal regulation of tourism in countries of transition emphasizing specially Kosovo. From this work you can see that tourism and hotels are important economic activities which not always are being treated with appropriate importance within the frame of social and economic development of life. Apart from the development of “massive tourism” and benefits gained by certain countries from these activities, in some countries of South-East Europe are presented serious problems especially in issuance of legislation. This lack of tourism development is a serious gap of development and attraction of foreign investments in Kosovo. Kosovo is a specific case of a transitional society because of many political problems which have generated negative impact with in the frame of economic and legal development. After the end of the last war the gap of overall economic and tourism development was influenced by many subjective and objective factors. This work not only identifies these problems but at the same time offers some measures of urgent matter in order to eliminate them and provide a balanced and qualified development. |
| Keywords: | Tourism tourism legislation trade usages legal contracting relations in the tourism field the contracting right |
| JEL: | K0 Q5 L83 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22251&r=tra |
| By: | Lei, Xiaoyan (Peking University); Yin, Nina (Toulouse School of Economics); Zhao, Yaohui (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | The epidemiological transition, which has already passed the developed world, is still progressing in many developing countries. A particular problem associated with this transition is the under-diagnosis and lack of treatment of chronic diseases, and these may exhibit SES gradients and exacerbate social inequality. Using hypertension as an example and data from China (CHNS), we find that the prevalence of hypertension in China is already close to levels in developed countries, under-diagnosis is pervasive, treatment is rare, and failure to control is widespread. Consistent with the literature, we find no income and education gradients in the prevalence of hypertension. However, there are strong education gradients in diagnosis and treatment in urban areas. The income gradients in all aspects of hypertension are relatively weak and sometimes nonexistent. Interestingly, we find that access to health care does not contribute to the diagnosis of hypertension, nor does it aid much in the treatment and control of hypertension. Our results suggest that the epidemiological transition has indeed occurred, but both the Chinese public and its health care system are ill-prepared. There is an urgent need to educate the public on chronic illnesses, and to raise the quality of health care so that patients receive proper diagnoses and guidance on how to treat and control those chronic illnesses. |
| Keywords: | epidemiological transition, under-diagnosis, SES health gradients |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4914&r=tra |