Education is the augmentation of the stock of skills, knowledge and understanding possessed either by individuals or by society as a whole. Therefore any study of the economics of education and training concerns the manner in which choices affecting this stock are made. This paper uses the...

This study examines the widely held view that rural off-farm income, in particular that earned from rural wage employment, may assist households in overcoming credit constraints when making farm investments. The analytical results of the study show that rural wage employment income can only...

We analyze the pace and patterns of job reallocation in Ukraine using 1992-2000 panel data on nearly the surviving universe of manufacturing firms inherited from the Soviet Union. Employment growth displays a substantial increase in heterogeneity during this transition period, with a...

The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension schemes in Central and Eastern Europe are on the verge of financial collapse. In this paper, we analyse the causes of the crisis in the old-age income insurance systems and we discuss theoretical and political economy aspects of pensions and retirement behaviour....

China currently maintains an exchange rate fixed against the US dollar and a (relatively) closed capital account, while exercising an independent, controlled interest rate environment. Domestic and international pressures have been mounting for the Chinese government to re-adjust the currency...

This paper draws on an original dataset collected in Benin which features data at the individual level. We first provide evidence that suggest that husband and wife are not pooling their respective incomes and thus are not making expenditure decisions on the basis of one common budget. As we...

This paper examines the importance of competition in the growth and development of firms. We make use of the large-scale natural experiment of the shift from an economic system without competition to a market economy to shed light on the factors that influence innovation by firms and their...

This paper provides new evidence on progress in transition and the 'readiness' of enterprises for accession to the EU using a detailed survey administered to approximately 200 manufacturing firms in each of Poland, Romania and Spain. A major innovation is the use of a market economy and member...

Although the development of a new private sector is generally considered crucial to economic transition, there has been rather little empirical research on the determinants of startup firm growth. This paper uses panel data techniques to analyze a survey of 297 new small enterprises in Romania...

This paper discusses the main elements of the present operation of the main food industries in the CEEC-5 from a structural point of view and places these elements in the context of EU membership. The main structural aspects addressed in the paper are i) privatisation and restructuring; ii)...