Chapter 42 Labor markets in the transitional Central and East European economies

In this chapter, I survey principal econometric studies of several important labor market issues in Central and East European countries as they launched the transition from central planning to a market economy. The topics covered include employment, wage and fringe benefits determination in firms, individual wages and human capital, determinants of unemployment duration, and matching of the unemployed and vacancies. The studies are of interest because one can observe the functioning of nascent markets and institutions after prices and wages ceased being set by planners. Moreover, the variation in relevant variables has been tremendous, thus permitting the researchers to estimate precisely key parameters.