The political system in China is often referred to as political meritocracy. This study develops a simple model of political meritocracy that captures democracy and dictatorship as special cases. Then, we use the model to explore the strengths and weaknesses of a meritocratic system relative to...

This paper analyses whether the effect of crime on growth depends on the structural changes caused by transition. The result of the simple model suggests that when the structure of economy changes, the cost of economically motivated crime will also change; thus, affecting the impact of crime on...

Major pharmaceutical companies such as Smith Kline Beecham, Merck, Glaxo and Lilly, and a score of smaller ones, are developing profitable business opportunities in the world's forest while preserving biodiversity and producing incentives for leaving the forests intact. This case study covers...

This paper discusses the emergence of a new model of welfare and social assistance in Central and Eastern Europe. It starts by briefly summarizing the most recent social policy developments occurring in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia...

This paper has four main objectives: (1) to monitor the rise of poverty and income inequality during the first decade of Russian transition; (2 to analyze the performance of the welfare state in reducing poverty and income inequality; (3) to identify the most vulnerable groups of transition; and...

This paper provides a brief description of the main systemic problems (strukturprobleme) of post-communist capitalism(s), as well as exploring the main changes occurring in the social structure and the subsequent new social risks and welfare state responses emerging. It shows that post communist...

In this paper we study the relationship between communication and ”transparency of information” and governance by exploring the link between social media and natural resource governance. Using a cross-country analysis, we document a robust and statistically significant positive relationship...

Central and Eastern European countries have experienced a rapid transformation of their economic, political and welfare regime(s). From a state-paternalist welfare state, post-communist countries are now moving towards something new. A shift in the main social policy paradigm is, in fact, taking...

This paper examines a distinctive mechanism of providing incentives to local governments – upgrading counties to "cities". In China, awarding city status to existing counties is the dominant way of creating new urban administrative units, during which the local government gets many benefits....

We examine the institutional development of a set of transition economies since the dissolution of the USSR, with a particular focus on the effect of natural resource dependency, EU accession and institutional experience. In a cross-sectional analysis these factors show a significant association...