We argue that the tilt toward donor interests over recipient needs in aid allocation and practices may be particularly strong in new partnerships. Using the natural experiment of Eastern transition we find that commercial and strategic concerns influenced both aid flows and entry in the first...

One of the enduring puzzles in transition economies is why incumbent politicians postpone reforms aimed at hardening budget constraints towards unproductive firms. We submit that voters prefer politicians capable of implementing reforms that promote job creation rather than policies that simply...

There has been relatively little investigation of the relationship between constitutional transformations and the economic transition in post-communist countries. We develop a simple signaling model in which constitutionalism - a commitment to limit political power and provide judicial defense...