We use a new independent survey of 4,000 Russian households (the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey or RLMS) to study their saving behavior. The RLMS household saving rate (12%) is less than half the official figure (29%). Despite the massive changes of the transition, the Russian household...

This paper examines the effects of shortages on the demand for money of Soviet citizens. It is the first to examine the demand for money in a centrally planned economy using cross-section data in which alternatives to income and interest rates are used to explain money demand. We find demand for...

Health and consumer finance are hard to disentangle. Social and power structures in the imperfect health-care market favor suppliers and their regulators. The asymmetric control of resources and information by the industry renders consumers impotent in finding the optimum levels of medical goods...

The authors conduct tests to gain insight into the empirical relevance of the proposition that factor prices converge as trade expands. The test results support the proposition of factor price convergence in sixteen OECD countries during the 1961-84 period. Regression analyses support the view...

This paper examines the effects of shortages on the demand for money of Soviet citizens. It is the first to examine the demand for money in a centrally planned economy using cross-section data in which alternatives to income and interest rates are used to explain money demand. The authors find...

Paucity of information on the informal market for health services hampers the governments’ efforts in performing their desirable roles in informing, regulating, mandating, financing and providing health services to their people. Analysis of data from a survey of almost 20,000 patients fills a...