The analysis of targeting of cash benefits is typically silent on whether any success is due to encouraging claims from the poor or to the decisions of administrators on the claims they receive. By contrast, the paper models the probabilities of households? knowledge of a new social assistance...

A wealth of research papers, reports, and newsprint demonstrate the wide international interest in the ecological deterioration in the Aral Sea Basin in Central Asia (CA). The demise of the Aral Sea is a symptom that results from intensive agricultural activities aiming at maximizing...

The dominance of cotton in the irrigated areas of Central Asia has long been criticized for its ecological effects on salinization and desertification. From an economic point of view, this monoculture ties producers to state procurement, has led to the recurrent mobilization of manual labour...

This study documents a quantitative analysis of exchange rate volatilities and misalignment in Uzbekistan for the period of 1994q3-2005q2. The results suggest that the real exchange rate volatility and misalignment have depressing effects on the volume of trade, mainly exports in Uzbekistan. The...

This paper focuses on inequality in living standards across oblasts and regions within Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Regional inequality is an important area of research and policy development. Inequality in income and consumption are logical outcomes...

While most transition countries suffered substantially from the world financial crisis of 2008 and still cope with its consequences, Uzbekistan has stayed almost untouched and shows constant economic growth since 2001. Neither macroeconomic foundations nor available institutional indicators...

With the disintegration of the USSR a conflict arose between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan over the Syr Darya river. Upstream Kyrgyzstan operates the Toktogul reservoir which generates hydropower demanded mainly in winter for heating. Downstream Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan need irrigation...