Download or read book trade reorientation and productivitiy growth in bulgarian enterprises written by Simeon Djankov and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Global Integration and Technology Transfer written by Bernard M. Hoekman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-04-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The importance of international technology diffusion (ITD) for economic development can hardly be overstated. Both the acquisition of technology and its diffusion foster productivity growth. Developing countries have long sought to use both national policies and international agreements to stimulate ITD. The 'correct' policy intervention, if any, depends critically upon the channels through which technology diffuses internationally and the quantitative effects of the various diffusion processes on efficiency and productivity growth. Neither is well understood. New technologies may be embodied in goods and transferred through imports of new varieties of differentiated products or capital goods and equipment, they may be obtained through exposure to foreign buyers or foreign investors or they may be acquired through arms-length trade in intellectual property, e.g., licensing contracts. 'Global Integration and Technology Transfer' uses cross-country and firm level panel data sets to analyze how specific activities exporting, importing, FDI, joint ventures impact on productivity performance.
Download or read book Does Access to Credit Improve Productivity written by Roberta Gatti and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2002 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Although it is widely accepted that financial development is associated with higher growth, the evidence on the channels through which credit affects growth on the micro-level is scant. Using data from a cross section of Bulgarian firms, the authors estimate the impact of access to credit (as proxied by indicators of whether firms have access to a credit or overdraft facility) on productivity. To overcome potential omitted variable bias of OLS estimates, they use information on firms' past growth to instrument for access to credit. The authors find credit to be positively and strongly associated with total factor productivity. These results are robust to a wide range of robustness checks. "--World Bank web site.
Download or read book Have Trade Policy Reforms Led to Greater Openness in Developing Countries written by Shuby Andriamananjara and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Does Mercosur s Trade Performance Raise Concerns about the Effects of Regional Trade Arrangements written by Alexander J. Yeats and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Demand elasticities in international trade are they really low written by Arvind Panagariya and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: December 1996 For the first time in the economics literature, Panagariya, Shah, and Mishra obtain import demand elasticities for a small country (Bangladesh) that are very large. The elasticities are based on parameters of a utility function that are systematically of the correct sign and statistically significant. Using highly disaggregated data, both own-price and cross-price elasticities are estimated. Most economists are comfortable with the assumption that import demand elasticities facing small countries such as Austria, Belgium, and Denmark are approximately infinite. Yet the actual estimates of import demand elasticities for these and other countries are disturbingly low. Typical estimates range from 1-2, and in rare cases rise to 3. Such estimates seriously undermine the case for unilateral liberalization since they suggest considerable market power on the part of even small economies. They also raise doubts about the ability of exports to serve as an engine of growth. With import demand elasticities lying between 1 and 3, a 20 percent annual expansion in exports would, for example, lead to a substantial deterioration in the terms of trade. Panagariya, Shah, and Mishra analyze the U.S. demand for imports from Bangladesh for the products restricted under the Multifiber Arrangement. Because Bangladesh is only a small supplier of these products and close substitutes are available from many Asian and Latin American countries, they expected the elasticity of demand for Bangladeshi imports to be high. Their estimates of own-price elasticity are consistently high, exceeding 65 in all cases. This finding accords with trade theorists' prejudice that small countries can essentially behave as price takers but conflicts with the view in the empirical literature that demand elasticities rarely exceed 3 and are generally between 1 and 2. The authors' analysis differs from the existing literature in three ways. First, contrary to the general practice of postulating an ad hoc equation that violates trade theory, they derive a set of estimation equations from an explicit, utility-maximization model. They estimate these equations as a system and use the estimated parameters of the utility function to obtain the Marshallian own-price and cross-price elasticities as well as the income elasticity of demand. Second, they take explicit account of U.S. imports from competitors of Bangladesh. Rather than proxy competitors' prices by the prices prevailing in the export market, they rely directly on competitors' prices. Finally, they use highly disaggregated data that make the unit value of exports a far better proxy for price than is the case with the aggregate export data that are commonly used in this literature. This paper is a product of the Country Operations Division, Country Department I, South Asia. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under research project Export Competitiveness and the Real Exchange Rate (RPO 679-59).
Download or read book A Decade of Transition written by Mr.Oleh Havrylyshyn and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2001-04-27 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reviews the experience of 25 non-Asian transition economies 10 years into their transformation to market economies. The volume is based on an IMF conference held in February 1999 in Washington, D.C., to take stock of the achievements and the challenges of transition in the context of three questions: How far has transition progressed ineach country? What factors explain the differences in the progress made? And what remains to be done?
Download or read book The Productivity Effects of Decentralized Reforms written by Lixin Colin Xu and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Shifting responsibility for social services as enterprises privatize in Belarus written by David Sewell and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pension Reform Growth and the Labor Market in Ukraine written by Michelle Riboud and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: February 1997 Ukraine's pension system requires radical reforms to restore credibility to the system and remove distorted incentives that make it unsustainable. Resumption of growth alone will not solve the current difficulties. In recent years -as a result of economic contraction, declining employment and real wages, and changes in labor market behavior- Ukraine's tax base of the social security system has declined, threatening its sustainability. About 40 percent of the labor force works in the informal sector, paying no taxes, and many members of the formal workforce underpay taxes because they also do informal work. Using a model that links the social security system, the labor market, and the macroeconomy, the authors ran simulations to assess the sustainability of the current pension system and the relevance and viability of possible reforms. All simulations assume economic reform and the resumption of growth. They conclude: (1) Economic contraction is not the only cause of problems with the pension system. To reverse current trends, most of the labor force would need to be working in the formal sector -an unlikely event, given current incentives. (2) Reform is essential. Restoring the former system would be too costly, and maintaining the status quo would make the system unsustainable. ((3) Reforms focusing on short-term budgetary effects and neglecting the interactions between the social security and the labor market are likely to fail. (4) Raising the retirement age to 65 would have a significant financial impact, but would need to be accompanied by deeper structural reforms. Raising the retirement age quickly may entail the least political cost, as many old people are currently working. (5) For the deeper structural reforms needed, introducing a funded-tier should be considered. It would be an effective way to correct distortions and restore credibility. (6) Introducing such reforms will be costly and affect several generations of workers and pensioners in different ways. Tradeoffs must be carefully evaluated. This paper--a product of the Country Operations Division 2, Country Department IV, Europe and Central Asia Region--is part of a larger effort in the region to foster pension reforms. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under research project Social Safety and Growth: An Analysis of Interactions and Tradeoffs (RPO 680-35).
Download or read book Restructuring of Insider dominated Firms written by Simeon Djankov and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We study the effects of different modalities of privatization to insiders on the restructuring process in two former Soviet republics - Georgia and Moldova - using enterprise survey data for 1995-97. Enterprise restructuring was similar in companies where incumbent managers received significant ownership stakes for free and in state-owned companies. In contrast, the restructuring process was faster in companies bought by their managers. We interpret these results to suggest that managers' incentives to restructure decrease when they perceive their newly acquired ownership as a windfall gain.
Download or read book The Moving Frontier written by Lois Labrianidis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1992 and based on two theoretical approaches: the Global Commodity Chain and the Global Production Network, this book investigates the multitude of processes, as well as diverse consequences of global integration upon industries, regions, enterprises and employees. In doing so, it draws from the experience of Western and Eastern and South-eastern Europe. These European cases are complemented with evidence from Kenya, Thailand as well as US, China, India and Mexico. The book explores multiple causes of decentralization, arguing beyond the pursuit of cheap and adaptable labour. It goes on to argue that the effects of delocalization within Europe, unlike those in the rest of the developed world, are less negative than usually portrayed. It concludes by putting forward recommendations for best future practice of successful adjustment strategies and examines how these might be adopted elsewhere in the world.
Download or read book Ukraine on the Road to Europe written by Lutz Hoffmann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: by Viktor A. Yushchenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine The intensification of the integration processes on our continent entirely coincides with the national interests of Ukraine, a country which is undoubtedly European both geographically and politically. What kind of Europe do we now have, and what should it be in the future? What should the role of Ukrainian society be in the economic, social, and cultural integration of the countries on the European continent? These questions are the subject of research and scientific analysis by the well-known economists whose work is contained in this book. Let there be no doubt, the strategic goal of Ukraine's foreign policy is the active participation of our country in the European integration process. Thus, the move toward co-operation and gradual integration with the European Union was defined as one of the main priorities of the Ukrainian Government's programme "Reforms for Well-being", which is based on President Leonid Kuchma's speech "Ukraine: Steps into XXI century" and was approved by the Ukrainian Parliament. This move is not a hasty response to a new trend, but rather a pragmatic decision since the EU will define the face of Europe for the next century.
Download or read book Do labor market regulations affect labor earnings in Ecuador written by Donna McIsaac and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Regional Economic Development in the Balkan Region written by Teoman Duman and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume brings together original scientific studies on current economic and developmental issues in the Balkan region, and is composed of papers by 25 authors from seven different countries. The Balkan region has gained significant interest in recent years due to its location and strategic position, representing a doorway to Europe, and the region’s stability and progress have direct consequences on various European countries. Because of this strategic position, there is currently much debate regarding a potential partnership of the Balkan states with the European Union. This book offers insights into the current economic and developmental status of the countries in this region, offering a series of chapters that analyse the area from a variety of perspectives. It begins with a discussion on the recent history of the region, especially with reference to the former Yugoslavia and its break-up after the turbulence experienced in 1990s. Other sections are complementary to each other in that they offer comparisons of the Balkan states in their economic progress at the micro and macro levels. Topics such as European integration policies and effects, economic transition, regional trade, tax incentive policy, regional capital markets, regional development agencies and systems, remittances and foreign aid contributions, import-export policies, fiscal policies, analysis of regional microfinance, and the tourism sectors are explored in detail throughout the book.
Download or read book Privatization in Transition Countries written by Mr.Oleh Havrylyshyn and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper reviews a selection of studies on privatization experiences in transition countries. Empirical studies almost invariably show privatized enterprises outperform state enterprises. Moreover, the literature identifies de novo firms as being clearly the best performers, followed by outsider-dominated firms, while insider-dominated firms are the least efficient among those newly privatized. The importance of de novo firms in enlarging the private sector in transition economies is reviewed, along with the question of whether privatization efforts support or hinder de novo private sector development. Finally, the paper discusses the importance of providing a suitable market environment for successful private-sector development.
Download or read book Has Latin America s Post reform Growth Been Disappointin written by William Easterly and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
