Zimbabwe faces growth and external competitiveness challenges, as indicated by its low trend growth and investment, declining share in the world exports, high current account deficits, and external debt. The stock-flow approach to the equilibrium exchange rate reveals that the real exchange rate...

Limited access of entrepreneurs to credit constrains the creation and growth of private firms. In Africa, access to credit is particularly limited for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to unclear property rights and the lack of assets that can be used as collateral. This paper presents a...

We develop a theoretical framework and provide empirical estimates of the extent of several forms of restructuring in 130 privatized firms in a model transition economy (Slovenia) during the 1996-1998 period. In view of the institutional developments in the transition economies, we divide...

Did the Soviet institution of job rights, guaranteed employment despite individual or firm performance, survive the initial stages of transition in the Russian economy? This paper employs survey data collected in 1992 and 1995 to evaluate the extent to which job rights continued to influence the...

This paper tests the impact of the Costa Rican minimum wage policy on wage inequality and the level of employment in the formal sector (covered by minimum wage legislation) and the informal (uncovered) sector. We also examine the redistributive effects of the minimum wage, between the covered...

This paper investigates the effects of legal minimum wages on wages, employment, hours worked and monthly earnings among workers covered by minimum wage legislation as well as those for whom it does not apply (the uncovered sector) in Costa Rica. This country’s large uncovered sector and...

This paper contributes to our understanding of the impact of institutions on incomes of workers in developing countries by rigorously addressing the question as to whether changes in minimum wages can change the inequality of the distribution of earnings. More specifically, we analyze whether...

This paper presents a comparative analysis of employment and wage behavior of firms in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Russia during the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The four main findings are: 1) There is evidence of some (not excessive) labor hoarding before the transition...

This paper presents a comparative analysis of employment and wage behavior of firms in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Russia during the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The four main findings are: 1) There is evidence of some (not excessive) labor hoarding before the transition...

Using data collected from a panel of 6,205 civilian manufacturing firms located in the Central, Volga, North Caucasus, Northern and Western Siberian regions of Russia, this paper examines the hypotheses that in the first stage of the transition process (1) Russian industry exhibited a low labor...