Identification of the entrepreneur's economic function has engaged economistsfor more than 200 years. In this paper we address the issue of entrepreneurship intwo distinct ways: a) as it has historically developed within the field of economicsand b) as it develops in the transitional context. In...

The rapid journey from central planning to EU (euro area) membership stress-tested the social learning processes of the Former Transition Economies (FTEs). The desire for a higher standard of living, to be anchored to the West, and to enter the EU, spurred major reform waves and led to the very...

The recent EU enlargements into Central and Eastern Europe and increased labor mobility within the Union provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the labor market effects of emigration. Outmigration has contributed to higher wages for stayers, as well as to lower unemployment in the source...

Do younger workers in transition economies have a different work ethic from those who were trained and employed in the former socialist economy? Is the link between work ethic and performance among workers in transition economies the same for both older and younger workers? We address these...

The rapid journey from central planning to EU (euro area) membership stress-tested the social learning processes of FTEs. The desire to be anchored to the West, and to enter the EU spurred major reform waves and led to the introduction of best practice institutions very rapidly. This process...

This paper presents new evidence on the dynamics of dollarization and euroization for twenty-five transition countries. Estimates of the amount of foreign currency in circulation (FCC) in transition countries are used to develop a new comprehensive dollarization index (CDI) and separate indices...

This paper summarizes the macroeconomic performance of the transition economies. We first review the initial conditions confronting these economies, the reform strategy that was proposed, and the associated controversies that arose a decade ago. We then account for the widely different outcomes,...

This paper seeks to document and analyze changes in the distribution of wages and employment in the transition countries since the collapse of communism. Most countries experienced an increase in wage inequality during the initial shock of the transition. Proximate causes of this increase seem...

Ten years after the start of transition, there are many puzzles we still have to live with. Why did all countries experience strong declines in output at the outset of economic transformations and most of them are slowly, if at all, recovering from this "transitional recession"? How can these...