Download or read book Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies written by Gordon Hughes and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ..".transition has proved to be a much longer and more difficult process than most had anticipated, and progress has varied. By 1998 only one country, Poland (which embarked on economic reform before the rest of the region), had reestablished sustained economic growth and surpassed the pretransition level of real gross domestic product (GDP)." - From 'Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies' Most global economy and environmental watchers expect the transition to a market economy to yield environmental benefits. The changing incentives that a market economy introduces should foster more efficient production, better use of resources, and increased community input. The advanced reformers of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries proved this to be the case. They improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions intensity of pollutants. The slower-reforming countries of the Newly Independent States (NIS) also experienced lower pollution. However, that downturn coincided with the economic decline, which shut down many major polluters. This report reviews progress in environmental trends since transition began. It looks at air and water pollution and health indicators in the trends and in light of the environmental issues identified in the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe. It continues and builds on the World Bank's work in analyzing the environmental effects of transition, restructuring, and privatization with a view to identifying priority areas for investment and policy initiatives. The report will interest environmental policy makers and practitioners.

Download or read book Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies written by Gordon Hughes and published by World Bank Group. This book was released on 1999 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation World Bank Technical Paper no. 446 ... transition has proved to be a much longer and more difficult process than most had anticipated, and progress has varied. By 1998 only one country, Poland (which embarked on economic reform before the rest of the region), had reestablished sustained economic growth and surpassed the pretransition level of real gross domestic product (GDP). --From Economic Reform and Environmental Performance in Transition Economies Most global economy and environmental watchers expect the transition to a market economy to yield environmental benefits. The changing incentives that a market economy introduces should foster more efficient production, better use of resources, and increased community input. The advanced reformers of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries proved this to be the case. They improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions intensity of pollutants. The slower-reforming countries of the Newly Independent States (NIS) also experienced lower pollution. However, that downturn coincided with the economic decline, which shut down many major polluters. This report reviews progress in environmental trends since transition began. It looks at air and water pollution and health indicators in the trends and in light of the environmental issues identified in the Environmental Action Programme for Central and Eastern Europe. It continues and builds on the World Bank's work in analyzing the environmental effects of transition, restructuring, and privatization with a view to identifying priority areas for investment and policy initiatives. The report will interest environmental policy makers and practitioners.

Download or read book Environment in the Transition to a Market Economy written by Anthony Zamparutti and published by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This book was released on 1999-10-14 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Severe environmental problems were a key issue in the protests that marked the end of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This groundbreaking book provides new insights into the interaction between economic policy reforms, environmental protection efforts and environmental conditions in the region's subsequent transition to market-based economies and democratic societies over the past eight to ten years. The unique contribution of the book is its synthesis of a vast amount of information and cumulative experience together with detailed examples and case studies to provide a coherent analysis of the challenges and achievements in institutional strengthening and policy reform, environmental policy instruments, environmental financing, and environmental management in enterprises. It also reviews the development of domestic public participation and international co-operation for the safeguarding of the region's environment and discusses trends in industrial pollution and biodiversity protection. The book shows that economic reforms provided a crucial stimulus for environmental improvement, leading to reductions in high pollution levels. Moreover, several countries have strengthened their domestic environmental policies, institutions, and financing, resulting in further improvements. Nonetheless, many serious problems remain, and others have grown worse over the transition period: in many countries of the former Soviet Union in particular, economic crises and political stagnation have impeded environmental protection efforts. Continued partnerships between governments of the region, OECD donor countries, international financial institutions and organisations, environmental NGOs, businesses and trade unions, as well as public support for these, will be essential to reinforce the environmental improvements achieved thus far.

Download or read book Transition Economics written by Peter Luke and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2012-07-26 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrating twenty years of transition from socialism to capitalism, this book is designed to be the core textbook for undergraduate courses in transition economics and comparative economic systems. Given the passage of time, Transition Economics: Two Decades On reviews and accounts for the outcomes in the so-called transition economies and, from an academic perspective, takes the reader through developments and issues in the twenty years of transition from plan to market. Treating its subject matter thematically, the book incorporates much of the transition economics literature and evidence that have evolved over the past two decades. In particular, the authors focus on the most important aspects of economic transition, including: The initial conditions at the outset of transition Paradigms and patterns of transition The main transition policies and economic reforms The performance of transition countries and firms The lessons from transition The textbook covers a wide range of both contemporary microeconomic and macroeconomic issues, in over thirty ex-socialist European and Asian countries, including Russia and China. Transition Economics: Two Decades On is more than just a book about a particular part of the world or the transformation that was experienced at a particular time in history. The authors believe that the study of the economics of transition gives the reader an insight into theories, policies, reforms, legacies, institutions, processes and lessons that have application and relevance, beyond the specific transition from plan to market, to other parts of the world and to other times in history.

Download or read book Political Competition Economic Reform and Growth written by Ivan Pavletic and published by vdf Hochschulverlag AG. This book was released on 2010 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Which political and institutional factors trigger reforms that enable the poor to benefit from the process of economic growth? How can the incentives of policy makers be influenced in order to achieve such a dynamic? These are the questions this study seeks to address by examining the transition process in post-communist countries. The author argues that political competition within an accepted and respected institutional environment has been a driving force in shaping the direction and success of transition reforms. Evidence shows that in countries with a sufficient degree of political competition, citizens responded to economic crises by calling for economic liberalization. Economic liberalization removed existing distortions, increased economic efficiency and raised public welfare. This activated a dynamic, self-enforcing reform process that also strengthened the political and economic power of the poor. In the absence of political competition, such a process failed to emerge, thereby contributing to the persistence of poverty. Based on these findings, there is good reason to postulate that some level of political competition is essential for transition reforms to improve economic efficiency and public welfare in a sustainable manner.

Download or read book Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies written by Péter Kaderják and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers original economic analyses on the economy-environment relationship in Eastern and Central Europe. Drawing on the Hungarian experience, it provides empirical evidence on the reform of environmental policy which can be applicable to similar problems in other transition economies. The macroeconomic shocks of the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe have been exceptional in both their intensity and speed. The implications of this adjustment process are examined in relation to their effects on environmental policy, with special emphasis on the rethinking of standard environmental policy recommendations for transition economies. The authors focus on a variety of issues including the environmental concerns raised by the privatization process and to what extent the less rigorous environmental regulations in Hungary attract foreign direct investment. There is also a critical overview of the existing literature and an examination of the costs of reducing air pollution and the use of the contingent valuation method to measure the economic benefits of improving air quality in Hungary. In addition the authors assess the effects of industrial restructuring on emissions and analyse incentive-based policy measures including prospects for emission trading. Their conclusions challenge the common perception that energy pricing policy is the most important policy measure to induce structural changes in transition economies that are beneficial to the environment. Economics for Environmental Policy in Transition Economies will be of interest to policymakers, academics and postgraduates working in the fields of transition economics, environmental economics and environmental valuation.

Download or read book Infrastructure Performance and Reform in Developing and Transition Economies written by Lourdes Trujillo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Estache, Perelman, and Trujillo review about 80 studies on electricity and gas, water and sanitation, and rail and ports (with a footnote on telecommunications) in developing countries. The main policy lesson is that there is a difference in the relevance of ownership for efficiency between utilities and transport in developing countries. In transport, private operators have tended to perform better than public operators. For utilities, ownership often does not matter as much as sometimes argued. Most cross-country studies find no statistically significant difference in efficiency scores between public and private providers. As for the country-specific studies, some do find differences in performance over time but these differences tend to matter much less than a large number of other variables. Across sectors, private operators functioning in a competitive environment or regulated under price caps or hybrid regulatory regimes tend to catch up best practice faster than public operators. There is a very strong case to push regulators in developing and transition economies toward a more systematic reliance on yardstick competition in a sector in which residual monopoly powers tend to be common. This paper--a product of the Office of the Vice President, Infrastructure Network--is part of a larger effort in the network to document the state of the sector"--World Bank web site.

Download or read book The Economics of Transition written by Ichiro Iwasaki and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last three decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, there has been a vast amount of study looking at transforming the planned economy to a market economy from both theoretical and empirical aspects. This book provides an overview and insight into transition economies in the recent decades and looks at key economics topics from the so-called “transition strategy debate” to environmental reform. The book also includes an analytical review and meta-analysis of the existing literature. By integrating theoretical discussions and synthesizing empirical findings in a systematic manner, this book may help to enlighten the debate on the timing, speed, and policy sequence of economic transition. The book will particularly appeal to researchers, policy makers, other practitioners, and under- and post-graduate students who are interested in transition economies in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia, and China. It aims to be read as an advanced reader.

Download or read book Handbook of the Economics and Political Economy of Transition written by Paul Hare and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transition from central planning to a market economy, involving large-scale institutional change and reforms at all levels, is often described as the greatest social science experiment in modern times. As more than two decades have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is now an excellent time to take stock of how the transition process has turned out for the economies that have moved on from socialism and the command economy. This new handbook assembles a team of leading experts, many of whom were closely involved in the transition process as policymakers and policy advisors, to explore the major themes that have characterized the transition process. After identifying the nature of initial conditions and the strengths and weaknesses of institutions, the varying paths and reforms countries have taken are fully analyzed – from the shock therapy, privatization or gradualism of the early years to the burning issues of the present including global integration and sustainable growth. Topics covered include the socialist system pre-transition, economic reforms, institutions, the political economy of transition, performance and growth, enterprise restructuring, and people and transition. The country coverage is also extensive, from the former socialist countries of the USSR and the satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe to the Asian countries of China, Vietnam and others. The rise of China as a key actor in the drama is chronicled, along with the emergence of a new, more confident, oil-rich Russia. The comparative prosperity of the Central European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic is contrasted with the mixed fortunes of the former USSR, where some countries are stagnating while others boom. This Handbook of the Economics and Political Economy of Transition is the definitive guide to this new order of things in the former Communist world.

Download or read book The Cost of Reform written by John F. Jones and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the social impact of reform in the transitional economies of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Whatever the advantages of adopting a market orientation, and there are many, the countries which have taken this road have had a high price to pay. If one were to ask a Siberian miner or a Ukranian woman selling vegetables in a village market whether the switch from socialism to capitalism was worth the rewards, the question would likely evoke complaints about months of unpaid wages or persistent poverty. The disappearance of the iron rice bowl in China draws praise from the neoclassic economist, looking on from the outside, but for the displaced worker going from city to city in search of employment, the reaction will not be so enthusiastic. In the move from central planning to a market economy, there have been winners and losers. The winners are those in a position to use the changing economic circumstances to their advantage, and those having access to the goods and services of the market. But there are also, among the poor and vulnerable groups, consistent losers in the shuffling of opportunities, rewards, and costs. The problems of people caught in economic reform are acute, whether the emerging economies are shaped by sudden revolution from within as in Eastern Europe and Mongolia, or by international pressure from outside -- frequently at the urging of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- as in some African countries, or by the gradualism of socialist market systems like China, Vietnam or Laos. The social consequences of transition are significant, and they form the principal concern and focus of this volume. Its contributors, both authors andeditors, recognize globalization and the technological revolution already in place, and acknowledge the necessity for national economies to take advantage of the new freedoms and opportunities which the twenty first century heralds. But, while endorsing the efforts of countries to liberalize, to build their markets, and share the benefits of a world economy, the book's various authors are primarily concerned with the socioeconomic consequences of transition on the lives of people. The country case studies they present examine that impact.

Download or read book Institutional Change in Transition Economies written by Michael P. Cuddy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The importance of institutions for transition economies has so far been overlooked. By concentrating on an ongoing tension between informal constraints and mechanisms and the new formal rules and mechanisms that have gradually evolved through the transition period, this volume fills a crucial void in the literature.

Download or read book Circumstance and Choice written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Economies in Transition written by Allan E. Young and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2002 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To date, the record of economic transition has decidedly been mixed. The worldwide political climate is still in favor of economic reform and the process continues to have considerable momentum. On the other hand, this process now faces a number of formidable obstacles. There appears to be general agreement that in many countries the promise of a better standard of living which economic transition offers to the mass of the citizenry has failed to produce the rapid and dramatic results hoped for. There is an increasing conflict of interest between multinational firms and the national business community. Moreover, many transition economies have experienced a slowing of economic growth in real terms and social services have been severely cut.This book deals with the development of those forces that have played a major role in the successes and failures of economic transition. Its distinctive feature is that it does this from the perspective of economic, political and social analysis, taking into account both theoretical constructs and economic realities for those countries which have attempted the grand experiment with economic transition.

Download or read book Firms Environmental Performance and the COVID 19 Crisis written by Pierre Guérin and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-03-19 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The shutdown in economic activity due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has resulted in a short-term decline in global carbon emissions, but the long-term impact of the pandemic on the transition to a low-carbon economy is uncertain. Looking at previous episodes of financial and economic stress to draw implications for the current crisis, we find that tighter financial constraints and adverse economic conditions are generally detrimental to firms’ environmental performance, reducing green investments. The COVID-19 crisis could thus potentially slow down the transition to a low-carbon economy. In light of the urgent need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, these findings underline the importance of climate policies and green recovery packages to boost green investment and support the energy transition. Policies that support the sustainable finance sector, such as improved transparency and standardization, could further help mobilize green investments.

Download or read book Reforms institutions competition and economic performance in transition economies written by Alexandru Chirmiciu and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The World Bank Research Observer written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Transition and Institutions written by Giovanni Andrea Cornia and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the mortality crisis which has affected most economies in transition but which has remained so far largely unexplained. It reconciles long-term and short-term explanations of the crisis and makes use of special micro data-sets never used before. By providing a rigorous multidisciplinary analysis of this upsurge in mortality rates, the book hopes to contribute to the launch of vigorous policies to tackle this societal problem.