Showing 1 - 10 of 120
Despite the well-known gains from trade, trade liberalization is politically one of the most contentious actions that a government can take. We propose and formalize a new argument, having to do with uncertainty, which is complementary to the usual explanations for why that is the case; many...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012475768
The main focus of this paper is on the process and progress of economic reform in Russia. But I start with four historical questions that bear on the current situation. How advanced was Russia in 1913? What relevance, if any, does the New Economic Policy of the 19205, or NEP, have for the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012474902
While output declined in virtually all transition economies in the initial years, the speed and extent of the recovery that followed has varied widely across these countries. The contrast between the more and less successful transitions, the latter largely in the former Soviet Union, raises many...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471103
We report on the wellbeing of the young in 31 Ex-Soviet Republics located in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We find no evidence of the decline in the mental health of the young relative to older people which characterizes Western Europe and English-speaking advanced economies. The mental...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10015195001
Eastern European countries have experienced sharp declines in real GDP since 1990. One of the reasons for this decline is the Soviet trade shock, deriving from the collapse of the CMEA and of traditional export markets in the Soviet Union. This paper is an attempt to quantify the magnitude of...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012474863
The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 gave relatively strong powers to the President. We model and test Executive-Legislative relations in Brazil and demonstrate that Presidents have used pork as a political currency to exchange for votes on policy reforms. In particular Presidents Cardoso and Lula...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012467412
This paper studies empirically the effects of and the interactions amongst economic and political liberalizations. Economic liberalizations are measured by a widely used indicator that captures the scope of the market in the economy, and in particular of policies towards freer international...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012468036
We analyze the interplay of policy reform and entrepreneurship in a model where investment decisions and policy outcomes are both subject to uncertainty. The production costs of non-traditional activities are unknown and can only be discovered by entrepreneurs who make sunk investments. The...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012468238
We study optimal policy experimentation by a committee. We consider a dynamic bargaining game in which committee members choose either a risky reform or a safe alternative each period. When no redistribution is allowed the unique equilibrium outcome is generically inefficient. When...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012480686
This paper studies the employment and productivity implications of new labor regulations in China. These new restrictions are intended to protect workers' employment conditions by, among other things, increasing firing costs and increasing compensation. We estimate a model of costly labor...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012460711