This paper analyses some of the factors behind the diverging productivity performances of the US and the EU over the 1990s and develops some conjectures regarding the likely developments for the current decade. The 1990s were characterized by two features the disappearance of the process of...

This paper analyses two issues that were characteristic of the global growth processes of the 1980s and 1990s (i) an important diffusion process of a new general purpose technology (GPT) and (ii) a speed-up of catching-up of a sub-group of developing economies (South East Asia, later China and...

The very basis of macroeconomics is the circular flow of expenditures and incomes. From this follows the conclusion that it is demand which determines supply and not vice versa. The most paradoxical result of this approach is the hypothesis that investment finances itself by quantity adjustment,...

The last decade of the past century has been dominated by growing decentralization in Russia, both in economic and political terms. The major factors driving decentralization were the weakness of the federal government and of President Yeltsin, as well as the poor performance of the federal...

Russian oil and gas are playing a vital role in the world markets, but they also represent an important and (still) the most successful part of the national economy. However, whether the oil and gas sector will become an engine for the country's development in the medium and long run depends to...

GERMAN: Die im August 2007 ausgebrochene Finanzkrise erfüllt alle Kriterien einer systemischen Bankenkrise. Zahlungsschwierigkeiten häufen sich, die Kapitalisierung von Banken sinkt und Aktienkurse fallen, während die realen Zinssätze steigen. Ausschlaggebend für diese Entwicklungen ist der...

The article analyses the joint determinants of inequality and growth with a special emphasis on public spending structures in transition. The mutual benefit of low real interest rates, to both equity and economic development is a major result of this paper. In terms of public spending items we...

This paper looks at the experience of South East Europe which – for the purposes of this paper – includes the former states of Yugoslavia except for Slovenia (i.e. Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia), Albania, and the two EU candidate countries, Bulgaria and...

GERMAN: Die mittel- und osteuropäischen Länder (MOEL) sind spätestens seit September 2008 von der Krise der Weltwirtschaft ebenfalls betroffen. Vor allem die Industrieproduktion und der Außenhandel leiden unter den Folgen des Nachfrageeinbruchs. Das reale BIP-Wachstum verlangsamte sich...

This paper looks at the experience of South East Europe which -- for the purposes of this paper -- includes the former states of Yugoslavia except for Slovenia (i.e. Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia), Albania, and the two EU candidate countries, Bulgaria and Romania....