Economies in Transition

The fall of communism left some of the most polluting and wasteful energy sectors of the World in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). After 15 years of restructuring, eight of these countries have joined the European Union (EU), closing an era of economic transitions. What progress has been made in these countries in the field of energy from the perspective of sustainability? Has the transition agenda been completed, or do any of the socialist energy sector legacies prevail?The purpose of this paper is to review the period of economic transition in the energy sector, focusing on sustainability, in three selected CEE countries, and to use Russia as a comparison. First, the paper argues that at the core of the unsustainability of energy sectors at the end of the communist era were among the highest energy intensities in the world. Then, we identify the legacies of the centrally planned economy that contributed to these high-energy intensities. We outline a policy agenda for the transitions which addresses the identified legacies. Next, we look at the energy landscape at the end of the restructuring, and review the developments in energy intensities during the period of economic transitions. We conclude that, while energy and economic restructuring is very important to bring down the high-energy intensities of former communist countries, a sizeable gap remains in intensity levels between CEE countries and the old EU states. Therefore, economic and energy system reforms alone will not close the gap, and targeted policies and measures are needed to improve energy efficiency levels. Beyond a more serious governmental commitment, a concerted effort is needed from regulators, corporations, utilities, consumer organisations and the civil sector to catalyse the remaining progress to be made in combating the socialist legacy in the field of energy efficiency.

ნაშრომი განიხილავს საქართველოს ეკონომიკური გარდაქმნების ისტორიას სსრკ-ს
დაცემის შემდგომ 1991 წელს დამოუკიდებლობის აღდგენის, დემოკრატიული
ახელმწიფოს დაფუძნების, გეგმიური ეკონომიკიდან ლიბერალური საბაზრო ეკონომიკისკენ გარდაქმნისა და ევროკავშირთან ახლო ინტეგრაციის მცდელობების განმავლობაში. ნაშრომი ასევე მიმოიხილავს ამ პერიოდში ეკონომიკურ განვითარებაზე მოქმედ სხვადასხვა პოლიტიკურ თუ სოციალურ ფაქტორებს.

This paper provides a comparative analysis on the role of training and its impact on firm performance in some economies in transition in Asia. The starting point is an examination of country contexts and training, and how these have shaped organizational approaches to human resource (HR) training. The paper also reviews the results of recent studies that have investigated the relationship between training and firm performance in Vietnam and China. The review results show that training is positively related to firm performance and reveals some convergence of HR training in both countries. On the basis of this, some caveats on HR training development in the future in these two countries are given. The paper ends with theoretical and practical implications.

This paper uses data from Poland to examine whether there are any wage differentials between workers in the public and the private sectors. After standardising for worker characteristics and sector selection effects, we find a private sector wage advantage. The wage premium is ...

This paper investigates the promising proposal of Joint Implementation (JI) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This was ultimately the only concrete outcome of the Conference on Climate Change in Berlin, albeit restricted to a pilot phase. The basic idea, given the public's awareness of global warming, sounds economically plausible: The industrialized countries, the only ones required to stabilize and lower

The agreement on implementation of the Kyoto Protocol achieved at COP7 in Marrakech has important implications for investment in greenhouse gas emission reduction projects in developing countries through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The required actual emission reductions for participating Annex B countries overall will be relatively small, as the United States do not intend to ratify the protocol and significant amounts of carbon sequestered in domestic sinks can be credited. In addition, the potential supply of surplus emission permits (hot air) from Russia and other economies in transition may be as high as total demand in the first commitment period. Thus, even under restraint of hot air sellers, CDM demand will be limited, and a low demand, low price carbon market scenario appears likely.The magnitude of the CDM will be influenced by a host of factors both on the demand and the supply-side. We analyse these using a quantitative model of the global carbon market, based on marginal abatement cost curves. Implementation and transaction costs, as well as baseline and additionality rules affect the CDM’s share in the carbon market. Demand for the CDM is sensitive to changes in business-as-usual emissions growth in participating Annex B countries, and also to crediting for additional sinks. Permit supply from Russia and other economies in transition is possibly the most crucial factor in the carbon market.

In Bulgaria, during the transition to market-oriented economy, many analyzes are based on the widely held view that one of the positive legacies of the economies in transition (particularly that of Bulgaria) is the high level of human capital. The high degree of development of education and science is considered one of the few highly valued achievements of the socialist economy. Discussions focused on policies to stimulate economic growth indicate that the proper education of the workforce is an essential prerequisite to achieve positive macroeconomic results. Despite these opinions, however, the economic literature still lacks comprehensive empirical studies based on quantitative analysis on the relationship between human capital and economic growth in Bulgaria for the years of socialism and the transition. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze the impact of human capital on economic growth in Bulgaria during the years of socialism and the transition using the concepts of the mod...

In 1995-96 we conducted a review of rubella immunization strategies. Worldwide, 78 countries (more than one-third) reported a national policy of using rubella vaccine. This was closely related to country economic status. Based on the United Nations country classification, rubella vaccine is used in 92% of industrialized countries, 36% of those with economies-in-transition, and 28% of developing countries. Cases of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) may be prevented as follows: by providing direct protection to women and/or schoolgirls (a selective vaccination strategy); by vaccinating boys and girls to provide indirect protection by reducing the transmission of rubella virus (a childhood vaccination strategy); or by a combination of these approaches (a combined strategy). A combined strategy was most commonly reported (60% of countries); seven countries (9%) reported a selective strategy; and 24 countries (31%) reported only childhood immunization. Experience has shown that it is ess...

L’objectif de cette recherche est de clarifier les objectifs de la normalisation industrielle et de déterminer les différentes facettes de la normalisation dans une économie en transition. C’est la question de recherche liée à la composition et à l’impact du management par la normalisation revêtant un cadre essentiel dans le management industriel actuel dans les entreprises et des politiques publiques des pays en transition telle que l’Algérie à laquelle la présente recherche apporte sa contribution scientifique.
L’étude de cas porte sur le Complexe de Toiles INDustrielles ALgériennes (Tindal) de M’Sila (Algérie). Elle apporte des éclaircissements sur la normalisation et la conception avec la formule «usine produit en main », sur les principales difficultés managériales des dirigeants de l’usine, sur les mises à niveau de l’usine, sur les pistes de développement des principaux domaines stratégiques de l’usine…

Mots clés : économie en transition, « usine produit en main », normalisation industrielle, économie de marché, ISO, textile technique
economies in transition, " Product-in-hand" industrial standardization, market economy, ISO, technical textiles

In this paper we investigate the long run relationship between financial depth and economic growth, trying to utilize the data in the most efficient manner via panel unit root tests and panel cointegration analysis. In addition, we use threshold cointegration tests, and dynamic panel data estimation for a panel-based vector error correction model. The long run relationship is estimated using fully modified OLS. For 10 developing countries, the empirical results provide clear support for the hypothesis that there is a single equilibrium ...

Free 'Entry' and free 'Exit' are fundamental mechanisms of the competitive market economy operation. Free entry ensures that potential entrepreneurs will take advantage of profitable opportunities and enter profitable segments of the market, increasing competitive pressure on the incumbent firms, lowering output prices and improving the overall allocation of resources. Both free entry and free exit guarantee that more efficient firms and those producing in accordance with the market demand, survive and prosper while inefficient units and those whose production is not geared to the market will contract and eventually embark on exit. Barriers to entry and exit influence the development of competitive conditions in established market economies, however, for economies in transition the freedom of entry and exit has an even more significant dimension. The reason for that are particular 'initial conditions' which the economies inherited from their communist past: m...

This paper uses data from Poland to examine whether there are any wage differentials between workers in the public and the private sectors. After standardising for worker characteristics and sector selection effects, we find a private sector wage advantage. The wage premium is ...

The article deals with the results of econometric model building for Russian and Belorussian economic development using the LAM-3 methodology. LAM-3 is the most recent version of the Long-run Adjustment Model that is used for quarter-to-quarter modeling and forecasting to show the economic development of countries in Eastern Europe. The principles upon the LAM-3 models are built and the problems associated with the model-building processes are discussed. The models are used to depict the Russian and Belorussian economies in transition. The article describes the GIRAF software developed to be used in the LAM-3 series models and to assess the level of accuracy of the forecasts made for the economies of Russia and Belorussia

The advantages of using the gravity approach for modeling transition processes in foreign trade are the ability of gravity models to explain international trade patterns under the conditions of comparatively little data and for validity of theoretical background of the model to the ...

This paper explores the efiect of opening up to trade on the outcome of a reform, an outcome that is expressed by a coe‐cient that re∞ects the domestic business environment{namely the rule-of-law coe‐cient. A two-stage game is assumed where (i) in the flrst stage, the elite ofier political contributions contingent on the government’s choice of the rule-of-law coe‐cient, and subsequently, the government takes into consideration the elite’s contributions when choosing the rule-of-law coe‐cient since, although it cares about consumers’ well-being, it is flnanced, at least partly, by the elite’s money; and (ii) in the second stage, the country opens up to trade with a foreign country characterized by the perfect rule-of-law coe‐cient, the owners of the flrms decide if to enter the industry, and proflts are realized. To this end, heterogeneity at the flrm level is assumed: some flrms, but not all, gain from ∞awed legal institutions. The second-stage analysis relies heavily on Dixit and S...

Since the introduction of the inflation targeting regime in 1998 the Czech National Bank has made considerable progress in developing formal tools for supporting its Forecasting and Policy Analysis System. This paper documents the advances in the ongoing research aimed at developing a DSGE small open economy model designed to capture some of the most important features of the Czech economy - both the business-cycle regularities and the recent developments associated with the economy's transition and its convergence towards the industrialized European countries. The model in its current form is able to capture trends in relative prices, allow for medium-convergence in expenditure shares, and deal with the undercapitalization and investment inflow issues. Besides the model exhibits real and nominal rigidities that are in line with the recent New Open Economy Macroeconomics literature built fully on first principles. The innovative features of our model include the international cu...

This paper explores the effect of opening up to trade on the outcome of a reform, an outcome that is expressed by a coefficient that reflects the domestic business environment–namely the rule-of-law coefficient. A two-stage game is assumed where (i) in the first stage, the elite offer political contributions contingent on the government's choice of the rule-of-law coefficient, and subsequently, the government takes into consideration the elite's contributions when choosing the rule-of-law coefficient since, although it cares about ...

A case study approach is applied in order to evaluate climate change mitigation measures in the energy sector in a SEE country with economy in transition. Starting point of the analyses were the findings and recommendations of the Working Group on Mitigation (WG3) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangkok, May 2007. The applied evaluating model is GACMO, which compares each mitigation option with the baseline and determines its economic and environmental effectiveness. Almost half of the considered options are shown to be of winwin type, which can be partially explained by the high energy intensity of the national economy, although their environmental effectiveness is relatively low. On the other hand, options with the largest mitigation potential are shown to be most difficult for implementation, mainly due to the lack of financing and low prospects for attracting foreign investments, as well as legislative and administrative barriers.