In this paper we compare the nature and determinants of outflows from unemployment in the case of the Czech and Slovak Republics which in early 1990's experienced a process close to a controlled experiment. Overall, our study suggests that the exceptionally low unemployment rate in the Czech...

In this paper we evaluate the part played by the unemployment compensation systems (UCS) in the generally high unemployment rates experienced in the transition and we provide an explanation for the differences in the performances of the Czech and Slovak labor markets. Using data we collected...

This paper uses individual-level data to characterize economy-wide job creation and destruction during periods of massive structural adjustment. We contrast the gradualist Czech and the rapid Estonian approach to the destruction of the communist economy to provide evidence on selected...

Small start-up firms are the engine of job creation in early transition and yet little is known about the characteristics of this new sector. We seek to identify patterns of job growth in this sector in terms of niches left from central planning and ask about differences in job creation across...

A state monopoly in schooling followed the collapse of communism in Central Europe. The centrally planned system was abandoned. Systems comparable with educational voucher scheme, also known as school choice system, were introduced in the Czech Republic and Hungary in the early 1990s. The newly...

The paper discusses the development of non-wage benefits in the Czech economy during the transition from a planned to a market economy. It shows a slowly increasing importance of such instruments of attracting best employees as social insurance or subsidized goods and services. Following an...

One's position in an alphabetically sorted list may be important in determining access to rationed goods or oversubscribed public services. Motivated by anecdotal evidence, we investigate the importance of the position in the alphabet of the last name initial of Czech students for their...

Do women perform worse than equally able men in stressful competitive settings? We ask this question for competitions with a high payoff - admissions to tuition-free selective universities. With data on an entire cohort of Czech students graduating from secondary schools and applying to...