What is the level of accumulated human capital in an economy in transition? Does education determine labour income in transition economies? In this study we try to answer these questions using data on 148,942 employees in 13 economic activities in Bulgaria. In the first place, we refer to the...

Transition economies have an initial condition of high human capital relative to living standards. I explore the possible implications of this key fact by surveying and adapting literature on growth and inequality. I focus especially on the long run and policy options.

The Central European countries became members of the European Union (EU) in May 2004. Has their accession into the EU also resulted in a stronger financial integration with the global economy in general and with the "old" EU countries in particular? Based on a cointegration analysis applied to...

Conventional wisdom suggests that the stocks of human capital were one of the few positive legacies from communism. However, if factories under communism were so inefficient, why would the education system not have been? Using the education production function approach and new data on...

The transition from centrally planned to market economy involves a process of massive occupational change that has been largely neglected in the literature. This paper investigates this process using data from the 1995 Estonian Labour Force Survey. We find that between 35 and 50 percent of wage...

This study examines the causal relationship between economic growth and financial development in Poland on the basis of quarterly data for the period 2000 Q1–2011 Q4. In order to examine the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the structure of financial sector-GDP links in Poland we...

The economic literature suggests that the efficient allocation of resources by the financial system speeds up economic development and reduces poverty. However, there are economists who find financial development to be the result of economic growth. This study examines causal relationship...

Economic growth and unemployment exhibit an ambiguous relationship – according to empirical studies. This ambiguity can be investigated by observing the role of the underground economy in shaping the productivity of firms. Indeed, unemployment may be absorbed by underground firms, which adopt...

This paper examines the effects and origins of balanced skills among nascent entrepreneurs. In a first step we apply Lazear’s jack-of-all-trades theory to investigate performance effects of a balanced skill set. Second, we investigate potential sources of balanced skills, thereby testing the...