In contrast to earlier literature, this paper finds empirical evidence that privatization has deteriorated fiscal balances in transition economies. The investigation focuses on the role of tax revenues in explaining the fiscal impact of privatization, as it appears that tax revenue in many...

The paper considers the issues of severe breakdown of production and the causes of persisting fiscal deficit in the economies in transition from a centrally planned to a market system. Although these events are due to a legacy of the previous system and to macroeconomic stabilization policies,...

We analyze the problem of soft budget constraints of enterprises financed by banks in transition economies and review the similarities and the differences in various models addressing that issue. We reconstruct these models as several variants of a basic sequential model of soft budget...

Transition requires the reallocation of resources across activities through closure of inefficient firms and the creation of new firms. It also requires restructuring of existing firms where improvements in performance are feasible. Both processes are closely tied together and are aimed at...

It has been shown that higher levels of subjective well-being lead to greater work productivity, better physical health and enhanced social skills. Because of these positive externalities, policymakers across the world should be interested in attracting and retaining happy and life-satisfied...