After the start of transition, in Central European Economies the restructuring process of large state enterprizes was accompanied by high unemployment all through the '90s. Social policy expenditures, particularly targeted to the non-employed, grew faster than expected due to the need to finance...

In this paper we analyse the labor market and its relationship with globalization in two groups of countries similar in their GDP per capita levels at the beginning of the 1980s but otherwise significantly different in their economic and social structures. On the one hand we look at Argentina,...

This paper presents a model of Rule of Law in which a continuum of agents plays against the State for the appropriation of the economic assets of a stylised economy. The model shows how each agent can either challenge the State or acquiesce, with the latter having the choice of either protecting...

The paper explores the determinants of productivity gap within the European Union in four industrial manufacturing sectors (computers, chemicals, basic metals and food) of strong macroeconomic significance and varied "Research and Development" (R&D) intensity. Our analysis reveals that some of...

The paper explores the determinants of productivity gap within the European Union in four industrial manufacturing sectors (computers, chemicals, basic metals and food) of strong macroeconomic significance and varied 'Research and Development' (R&D) intensity. Our analysis reveals that some of...

We propose a novel procedure, built within a Generalized Method of Moments framework, which exploits unpaired observations (singletons) to increase the efficiency of longitudinal fixed effect estimates. The approach allows increasing estimation efficiency, while properly tackling the bias due to...