This paper highlights relative price adjustments taking place in the global economy as important sources of the lower levels of inflation rates observed in the recent decades. Using a markup model, it shows substantial effects from declines in wage costs and import prices relative to consumer...

The remarkable stability of low domestic inflation in many countries requires explanation. In this paper, a number of competing hypotheses are evaluated on a stand-alone basis, and all are found to be inadequate. This includes the view that this outcome has been solely the result of more...

This paper studies the impact of product and labor market regulations on informality andunemployment in a general framework where formal and informal firms are subject to thesame externalities, differing only with respect to some parameter values. Both formal andinformal firms have monopoly...

The main purpose of this paper is to estimate the size and the growth of Quebec’sunderground economy, and the corresponding loss of taxes for the government. Ourapproach is based on a method developed by Pissarides and Weber (1989) and extended byLyssiotou et al. (2004). The basic hypothesis...

Drawing on Baumol’s concepts of productive, unproductive and destructiveentrepreneurship and relevant amendments, this thesis aims to contribute to theentrepreneurship literature by developing a conceptual framework which allowsoperationalising the concepts for empirical assessment....

In Romania, the communist regime promoted an official policy of gender equality for morethan 40 years, providing equal access to education and employment, and restricting paydifferentiation based on gender. After its fall in December 1989, the promotion of equalopportunities and treatment for...

Following the collapse of the socialist systems the countries of Middle- and Eastern Europefollowed their way to democracy and a market economy with different speed and sequencing.The related political-economy issues gave rise to an ongoing debate on the question as towhether the introduction of...

The determinants of government responsiveness to its citizens is a key issue in politicaleconomy. Here, we develop a model based on the solution of political agency problems.Having a more informed and politically active electorate strengthens incentives for governmentsto be responsive. This...

The trends and consequences of terrorist activities are often captured bycounting the number of incidents and casualties. More recently, the effects of terroristacts on various aspects of the economy have been analyzed. These costs aresurveyed and put in perspective. As economic consequences are...

This paper argues that corruption patterns are endogenous to political structures. Thus, corruption can be systemic and planned rather than decentralized and coincidental. In an economic system without law or property rights, a kleptocratic state may arise as a predatory hierarchy from a state...