The demographic transition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia -- Demographic change and labor markets -- Aging, savings, and financial markets -- Aging and pension expenditures -- Aging, long term care, and public expenditures -- Aging and education

This report focuses on the challenges that the region's aging countries will now face in having to deal with multiple transitions. It argues that their task ahead, though uniquely daunting, is by no means impossible. Indeed, many of the potential problems can be addressed through sensible and...

This study, perhaps the first of its kind in this region, is based on a study that explores the practice of casual sex among truck drivers, and commercial sex workers in the border areas of the Baltic region at a point of time, and, uses this evidence to extrapolate the potential impact on the...

Georgia is experiencing fast growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, although the prevalence remains at low level. The primary mode of transmission are injecting drug users representing 71 percent of cases, followed by 22 percent heterosexual contacts, 3.6 percent homo-bisexual contacts, 1.4 percent blood...

The main objectives of this study, Health care spending in the new EU member states: controlling costs and improving quality, are to take stock of recent trends in health expenditure aggregates in the public sector and to identify specific areas of reform consistent with the objectives of...

After a decade of slow economic growth Egypt's rate of growth recovered in the late 1990s, averaging more than five percent a year. But the effect of this growth on poverty patterns has not been systematically examined using consistent, comparable household datasets. In this paper, the authors...

What, if any, is the link between labor market policies that benefit insiders - for example, regulations guaranteeing high minimum wages and strict job security - and political regimes. Is it true that in a democracy outsiders vote and impose limits on what insiders can achieve, whereas in a...

Uzbekistan adopted a cautious, gradual approach to market reform. Kazakhstan followed a more aggressive strategy. But while Kazakhstan may have achieved a better policy environment, its economic performance has not been better than Uzbekistan's. The authors examine the interplay between...