This paper assesses alternative auction techniques for pricing and allocating various financial instruments, such as government securities, central bank refinance credit, and foreign exchange. Before recommending appropriate formats for auctioning these items, the paper discusses basic auction...

During the transition from centrally planned economies to market economies, many countries have experienced macroeconomic instability. This paper develops a monetary model to show how macroeconomic stability and instability can materialize in a rigidly planned economy with inherent structural...

This paper examines whether shortages may occur in an economy in transition, even for goods whose prices are free. The empirical relevance of this phenomenon is suggested by a case study of Ukraine during 1992. The paper presents a model of enterprise behavior in an environment where key inputs...

It is shown that the inefficiencies created by the soft budget constraint enjoyed by enterprises in Eastern Europe and elsewhere will continue so long as governments are unable credibly to threaten not to bail out loss makers. The institution of a suitable social safety net can strengthen...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of individual reform preferences in Russia after the August 1998 crisis. We analyze the response pattern to survey questions about the individual's support of returning to socialism and stopping market reforms in a bivariate probit...

As concerns of "reform fatigue" in lower- and middle-income countries have become more widespread, so has the search for ways of boosting support for market-oriented reforms. Although the effects of political institutions on reform results have been extensively analyzed, there has been...

As concerns of "reform fatigue" in lower- and middle-income countries have become more widespread, so has the search for ways of boosting support for market-oriented reforms. Although the effects of political institutions on reform results have been extensively analyzed, there has been...