The elements of economic growth -- Aggregate labor productivity -- The evolution of employment -- Poverty, vulnerability, and safety nets -- The business environment -- The integration of the transition countries into the global economy -- Demographic change and migration

This study was prepared by Stefan Lachenmaier while he was working with the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. It was completed in March 2007 and was accepted as a doctoral thesis by the Economics Department of the University of Munich (LMU). The subject of this study is an econometric...

Recent research has revealed enormous variation in performance and growth among firms, which both drives and is driven by large reallocations of inputs and outputs across firms (churning) within industries and markets. These differences in firm-level outcomes and the associated turnover of firms...

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have witnessed dramatic changes in outputs, the nature of jobs, standards of living, patterns of trade and the quality of education and health services. Yet, during much of this period,...

The study offers a unified perspective on what has driven productivity, economic integration, migration, employment and living standards in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, drawing on household budget surveys, enterprise surveys and special purpose firm level data sets.