Contrary to expectations and announcements of policy makers in transition economies, privatization has taken longer than originally planned. This paper analyzes the institutional and behavioral factors that compound systemic barriers to privatization and thus transition from a centrally planned...

Using data from 2000 to 2007, we investigate the effect of bank concentration on the entrepreneurial initiative in the Central and Eastern European transition countries for eight industrial sectors. We set up a simple structural model bywhich we test the relationship between banking market...

The present paper aims to provide some new evidence on how the insiders, i.e. employees of portfolio companies, view the Polish mass privatisation scheme. Based on two inquiries conducted in selected NIF firms in 1996 and 1998, it simultaneously offers a comparative analysis of the changes in...

The aim of the present paper is to discuss the role of the Mass Privatization Programme (MPP) in Poland, as a vehicle of change in the prevailing patterns of corporate governance in the emerging market economy. It is claimed that the Programme (also known as the National Investment Funds, or...

We investigate whether information sharing among banks has affected credit market performance in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, using a large sample of firm-level data. Our estimates show that information sharing is associatedwith improved availability...

Does financial sector foreign direct investment (FSFDI) trigger general capital inflows and foreign trade? Do these inflows to New EU Member States (NMS) provide positive signals (Spence, 1973) towards economic development or 'crowd out' investment and trade? While the direct impact of financial...

The paper focuses on three main objectives. First, it assesses the progress of structural reforms implemented in six Western Balkan transition economies, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Second, it outlines the major economic and institutional...

The last decades have witnessed the rise of a new wave of economic regionalism, the most remarkable example of which is the European Union. Regional economic integration is generally interpreted either as an attempt to resist the centrifugal forces of globalisation by strenghtening economic ties...

The aim of the present paper is to show the most aggregate quantitative results of systemic transformation in Poland to date, in terms of changes of country’s absolute and relative development levels, i.e. its GDP per capita compared to other countries, in particular fellow transition...

This paper uses district-level data from India for the Census period 1991-2001 to investigate the nexus between agricultural sector development and service delivery in education, health, transportation, and communication. It asks whether local differences in public service provision cause some...