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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Maksymilian Bielecki; Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska; Ewa Neska |
| Abstract: | Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are a key instrument of the EU's participatory energy transition, yet their uptake remains negligible in Central and Eastern Europe despite rapid prosumer growth. This study examines how Polish photovoltaic prosumers and prospective adopters (N = 969) evaluate design trade-offs embedded in alternative REC models and how these evaluations shape participation intentions. Using exploratory factor analysis, hierarchical OLS regression, and quantile regression, we identify the attitudinal structure underlying REC acceptance and capture heterogeneity across the willingness distribution. The results show that preferences for risk sharing consistently predict higher participation readiness across all motivation levels (β = 0.24, p |
| Keywords: | Renewable Energy Community; participation intentions; quantile regression; risk sharing; prosumer behaviour; Poland |
| JEL: | Q42 Q48 D91 O33 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahh:wpaper:worms2602 |
| By: | Martin, Reiner; Nagy Mohácsi, Piroska |
| Abstract: | The post-pandemic inflation surge tested monetary policy frameworks around the world. It was a particular test for the four Visegrad countries (V4) in Central-Eastern Europe, which provided a “natural experiment” to examine monetary policy outcomes under two different monetary regimes. With broadly similar economic characteristics, Slovakia was already in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) before the post-pandemic inflation hit, whereas the other three countries (Czechia, Hungary and Poland) were not. What was the inflation performance of the V4 countries under the two different regimes? What does this imply for the cost/benefit analysis of euro adoption for countries which are still outside the euro area? We find that EMU membership was beneficial both during “normal times” as the benefits of monetary sovereignty for small, open, integrated economies faded away, and particularly helpful during crisis times. |
| Keywords: | Central-Eastern Europe; ECB; EMU; Euro area; inflation; monetary policy |
| JEL: | E31 E42 E52 E58 F02 F31 |
| Date: | 2024–12–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137978 |
| By: | Anna Alberini (AREC, University of Maryland, College Park); Levan Bezhanishvili (Charles University, Environment Center); Milan Scasny (Charles University, Environment Center, and Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Roberton C. Williams III (AREC, University of Maryland, College Park) |
| Abstract: | We examine the response of residential customers to an extreme price change accompanied by a "notch" - namely that imposed by the government in the Republic of Georgia during the pandemic lockdown in the winter of 2020 and early 2021. As of November 2020, the government paid the gas bill directly to the utility, effectively making gas free, as long as consumption was below or exactly 200 m3/month. The policy was lifted at the end of February 2021. We use quasi-experimental causal methods based on a control group comprised of permanent residents of an area along the North-South pipeline, who receive gas for free (up to the generous allowance of 700 m3/month) every winter, while the treatment group is comprised of households living in areas with similar climates and similar population density who received gas for free only during the pandemic free gas months. The latter exhibit pronounced bunching of consumption just below or at 200 m3 during the pandemic free gas months, a pattern that was not present before and vanishes quickly thereafter. No such pattern is observed among the control group households. Controlling for the weather, the ATT of the policy is a 2-7% increase in gas consumption (in the treatment group compared to the control group). Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest a price elasticity of demand of -6.5% to -11%. |
| Keywords: | Extreme price changes; price elasticity of demand; difference-in-difference; synthetic difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | Q41 Q48 L95 H23 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2026_07 |
| By: | Cylus, Jonathan; Thomson, Sarah; Serrano-Gregori, Maria; Martinez, Marcos Gallardo; Garcia-Ramirez, Jorge Alejandro; Evetovits, Tamas |
| Abstract: | Background Countries around the world worry about the financial sustainability of their health systems as populations age; however, few have considered the consequences of future gaps in health financing on the risk of financial hardship due to out-of-pocket payments. If countries are unable to raise sufficient revenues to meet health needs, people will pay more out-of-pocket to use health services and risk experiencing catastrophic or impoverishing health spending. Objective We aim to simulate the effect of health financing gaps due to changes in the population age-mix on the risk of financial hardship from out-of-pocket payments and to identify relevant policy mechanisms. Methods Using the Population Ageing financial Sustainability gap for Health systems (PASH) simulator and the WHO Europe approach to measure catastrophic and impoverishing out-of-pocket expenditure, we simulate the effects of ageing-related health financing gaps on financial hardship in Bulgaria, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain through 2060. Results Our results indicate that all five countries will face significant health financing gaps due to population ageing. These gaps are expected to lead to increased out-of-pocket spending, resulting in higher incidences of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures to varying extents depending largely on each country’s current approach to revenue raising and co-payment policies. Conclusion We argue that countries should adopt diverse and sustainable health financing mechanisms and implement strong coverage policies to protect households from financial hardship as their populations age. This study underscores the importance of addressing health system financial sustainability to ensure progress towards universal health coverage. |
| Keywords: | Financial protection; Financial sustainability; Health financing; Out-of-pocket payments; Population ageing |
| JEL: | E6 N0 |
| Date: | 2026–07–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137839 |
| By: | Kofol, Chiara (Economics & Data ED23 GmbH); Kriechel, Ben (Economics & Data ED23 GmbH); Melnyk, Maryna (Economics & Data ED23 GmbH); Vetter, Tim (Economics & Data ED23 GmbH); Badescu, Mircea (European Training Foundation (ETF)) |
| Abstract: | The current literature finds that many employees in low and middle-income countries are over-qualified for their jobs or are employed in an occupation that is unrelated to their principal field of study. Vertical and horizontal mismatches signal that workers cannot fully utilise their skills, implying a potential loss of human capital. However, the current literature scarcely explores the determinants and wage penalties of horizontal and vertical skills mismatches comparably across countries, as well as their co-occurrence. We analyse the determinants of vertical and horizontal skills mismatch between 2016 and 2019 using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) of Serbia, Albania, Türkiye, Georgia, Armenia, Egypt, and Palestine. Consistent with the existing literature, the findings show that socio-demographic, job-related, and geographic characteristics determine vertical and horizontal mismatches, as well as their combined occurrence. The results also show that overeducation imposes a wage penalty, that horizontal mismatch is associated with a wage premium of approximately 7.5%, and that the combination of overeducation and horizontal mismatch yields a small positive net effect of approximately 1%. |
| Keywords: | skills mismatch, over-education, under-education, horizontal mismatch, cross-country analysis |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J21 I26 O15 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18609 |
| By: | David R. DeRemer (Nazarbayev University, Graduate School of Business); Venkat Subramanian (Nazarbayev University, Graduate School of Business); Aigerim Yergabulova (Nazarbayev University, Graduate School of Business) |
| Abstract: | The global value chain (GVC) approach offers valuable insights for resource-rich states pursuing economic diversification and enhanced resilience, due to its strengths in analyzing how policy shapes the tasks and linkages of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). By examining how state roles affect SOEs, we gain insights for diversification policy through economic upgrading analysis and resilience policy via a multi-level perspective. Drawing on the case of Kazakhstan before and after the shocks of the Russia-Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyze two contrasting sectors engaged in GVCs: uranium, an advantaged resource sector where the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) owns the key producer, and medicines, a disadvantaged non-resource sector where a state-owned firm is the key buyer. Our upgrading analysis of pre-shock policies in the uranium case shows that a SWF-facilitated transformation improves diversification, while in the medicine case, policy interventions through the state-owned firm yield diversification limited to state priorities. Our resilience analysis of post-shock policies reveals that in both cases, state interventions created unintended consequences for the resilience of firms and GVC, hindering GVC rebalancing and prompting strategic firm responses to mitigate adverse impacts. Our study suggests that state policies for resilience could better internalize these unintended consequences. |
| Keywords: | Global value chains, Industrial policy, Emerging markets/countries/economies, Economic diversification, Industrial upgrading, Resilience, Sovereign wealth funds, Privatization, Public procurement, Case-theoretic approaches |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:asx:nugsbw:2025-05 |
| By: | Luigi Capoani; Margarita Shnaider; Piergiorgio Martini |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how geopolitical conflict reshapes trade patterns, focusing on the economic consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war on European and global trade flows. War is conceptualized as a shock that increases bilateral trade costs within a structural gravity model, rather than as a force acting against trade flows, amplifying frictions in territories closer to the epicenter and reducing the economic attractiveness of major trade routes. The empirical analysis combines an Extended Gravity Model based on bilateral trade data from 2019 and 2023 with geographic, institutional, and political factors, including sanctions regimes and energy specialization. The findings show that war not only reduces trade volumes but also operates multiplicatively on trade frictions, influencing both the intensity and direction of trade disruptions, with more pronounced effects in the central corridors of the European market. As a result, some trade relationships collapse while others are redirected towards less exposed regions; furthermore, policy choices are decisive in shaping trade flows and contribute to isolating the Russian economy by creating a policy-induced trade void around the target country, while mechanisms such as the EU Single Market facilitate the internal reallocation of trade flows, preserving economic cohesion. |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2605.16334 |
| By: | Stefan Tanevski |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the existence of a sectoral asset price channel of monetary policy in the region of the six republics of former Yugoslavia. The study constructs sectoral indices for the entire region, building on the idea that one regional stock exchange may provide more efficiency for the listed companies in the region, while monetary policy relevance for it may be sector-specific. We employ panel vector autoregressive model to observe impulse responses of sectoral indices to innovations in monetary policy, while then disentangle the long- from the short-run relationships per index through a Pooled Mean Group estimation. Overall, we document presence of the asset price channel in the finance and telecom sectors, likely driven by the established multinational corporate networks fostering sub-market regionalization. Yet, this is not the case for the manufacturing and electricity sectors, which may imply that local stock markets are yet too fragmented and space for a more efficient regional stock market, either in the true sense of the word or, more realistically, though enhanced regional cooperation of the stock exchanges certainly exists. |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2605.14575 |
| By: | Sebastian Edwards |
| Abstract: | In this paper I examine Chile’s 1972 initiative to draft a new constitution under President Salvador Allende. I analyze the political and economic circumstances that gave rise to the project and the institutional mechanisms through which the draft sought to advance a socialist economic and political program centered on state ownership of means of production and central planning. I compare the Chilean proposal with the socialist constitutions of the German Democratic Republic and Czechoslovakia. The draft, which was never submitted to a plebiscite, as Allende envisioned, subsequently disappeared and remained unavailable for nearly two decades. Remarkably, the proposal has attracted very limited scholarly attention. |
| JEL: | K10 K16 K19 N46 P37 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35200 |
| By: | Yevheniia Bondarenko; Nayeon Kang; Vivien Lewis; Matthias Rottner; Yves Schueler |
| Abstract: | Geopolitical risk is a major concern for the euro area, yet widely used measures largely reflect a US perspective. We introduce a geopolitical risk indicator tailored to the euro area using local European news sources. Shocks to this index have significant recessionary and inflationary consequences in the euro area, effects that would be missed when relying on the corresponding US-based measure. We estimate that the war in Ukraine imposed substantial output losses and inflationary pressures on the euro area in 2022. Combining structural scenario analysis with end-of-sample nowcasting, we show that euro area prospects are highly sensitive to future developments in geopolitical risk. We complement these analyses with two news-based measures of sanctions intensity and shortages for the euro area. |
| Keywords: | euro area, geopolitical risk, inflation, sanctions, shortages |
| JEL: | E31 E32 F42 F51 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1348 |
| By: | Daniel Herrera-Araujo; Henrik Andersson; Damien Dussaux; Maria Kostopoulou; Olof Bystrom |
| Abstract: | Cancer can result from exposure to various environmental contaminants and chemicals, including heavy metals, pesticides and pathogens. In addition to the risk of mortality, cancer can also lead to non-fatal health effects that degrade patients' quality of life. However, no comprehensive study to-date has assessed the morbidity burden of cancer, making it difficult to quantify its true economic impact. This paper seeks to fill that gap. It presents findings from a new stated preference study examining individuals’ willingness-to-pay to avoid the physical, emotional and economic burdens of surviving cancer across 10 countries (Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States). It serves as a component of a broader project on Surveys on Willingness-to-Pay to Avoid Negative Chemicals-Related Health Effects (SWACHE) seeking to establish internationally comparable values for the willingness-to-pay to avoid negative health effects due to chemicals exposure. The findings presented herein can be used in cost-benefit analyses of policies that affect exposure to known or suspected carcinogens, contributing to more effective and equitable public health protection. |
| Keywords: | cancer, chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-fatal cancer, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 I18 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2026–05–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:274-en |