Opposing recommendations with respect to key sequencing issues characterize the controversy between the advocates of the orthodox (technocratic) approach and the recently popularized political economy approach. It is suggested that the concept of credibility provides in many cases a fruitful...

This paper investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) as a driver of improved productivity performance of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and Russia (CEER) relative to the EU-15 and the U.S. during the 1990s. The paper investigates how, and to what...

Der mit dem sog. Vertrag von Rom vor 40 Jahren initiierte Prozeß der wirtschaftlichen und politischen Integration Europas zeichnet sich durch eine Tendenz zur Selbstverstärkung aus. Dies gilt sowohl für den Grad der Intensität des Integrationsprozesses als auch für die geographische...

This paper studies the incentives to join or enlarge a monetary union under alternative assumptions about the extent of market reform within the union and in candidate countries. Lack of labour mobility, wage/price flexibility or fiscal reform brings costs for both new entrants and in the...

Eine Erweiterung der EU um Länder, die in ihrer wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung deutlich zurückliegen und deren Integration die Heterogenität der EU spürbar erhöht, verlangt nicht nur den potentiellen Neumitgliedern, sondern vor allem auch der EU erhebliche Reformanstrengungen ab. Ein...

European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to product markets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provide empirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme (SMP) were associated with increased product market...

The effect of 'locking-in' economic reform and enhancing its credibility is generally regarded as one of the most important potential effects of regional integration. Based on a detailed review of the theoretical debate, this paper develops a general framework for assessment to evaluate the...

This paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing controversy on the distributional effects of structural reforms in developing countries. Applying inequality indices and Fields’ (2001) decomposition methodology to Bolivian household survey data of the years 1989 to 1997, we identify recent trends...

El presente documento presenta una revisión de la reforma institucional en Bolivia entre 1982, año de la recuperación de la democracia, 1985, año de la aplicación de la economía de mercado y el año 2000. Es una revisión crítica asumiendo que la democracia y la economía de mercado no...