Robust and numerous small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are a hallmark of the market economy and development of these firms is an integral part of the structural transformation of the economies of East-Central Europe (ECE). Data for Hungary on changes in the size distribution of firms and...

The transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economic system should change fundamentally the roles of government and public enterprises in the East-Central European countries of Hungary, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Federated Republic (CSFR). The size of government should...

The rapid rise in Japanese owned assets in the United States and the substantial fall of the dollar against the yen naturally raises the question of whether there is a causal relationship between Japanese direct investment and the yen/dollar exchange rate. ; This paper contributes in two ways to...

This paper assesses prospects for sustained improvement in the U.S. external balance drawing on both model-based macro analysis and examination of disaggregated data. Most model projections of the future path of U.S. external balance show the recent improvement petering out by the end 1989 or...

An examination of the macroeconomic, political, and institutional environment of the 1930s and the 1980s suggests a set of stylized facts associated with periods of trade tension and incidents of trade retaliation. Periods of macroeconomic stress precipitate changes in the conduct of and...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the macroeconomic and microeconomic factors underlying the causes and persistence of the U.S. external deficit in the 1980s. The paper begins with a review of the extensive literature on this subject, and then outlines an analytical framework that...

In the 1970s, the Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs) emerged from the pack of developing countries by exporting manufactured goods. Some succeeded and some did not. In this decade, another set of developing countries are poised to become the next generation of NIEs. Which have the...

The following note presents a framework for analyzing financial management techniques and financial product innovation. The framework attempts to illustrate how characteristics of the economic system and its participants motivate financing needs and encourage innovations in financing techniques....

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on productivity growth and the procyclicality of productivity growth in manufacturing industries in the United States and Germany. For U.S. industries, the analysis suggests that changes in international demand affect productivity growth...

The different approaches to large-scale privatization in Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic imply somewhat different patterns of corporate governance--that is, ownership, monitoring, and control of firms. Corporate governance affects economic incentives within the firm, and therefore...