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Eurasian economies have to become efficient—more productive, job-creating, and stable. But efficiency is not the same as diversification. Governments need to worry less about the composition of exports and production and more about asset portfolios—natural resources, built capital, and economic institutions.
This occasional paper provides an overview of the economic reform experiences of the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union since their independence at the turn of the decade. The choice of countries reflects not only a geographical grouping, but also similarities in the types of transition challenges faced by these countries notwithstanding considerable variations in their sizes, ethnic composition, resource endowments, and economic structures. The paper attempts to identify a number of key macroeconomic and structural areas where the slower reformers in the group might benefit from the experience of the faster reformes.
'The topic is important and neglected and has major implications for the types of industrial policy that make any sense in transition countries. The clear message of this book is that protective science and technology policies would, for the most part, be a total waste of money. What is needed now is internationalization and a demand-driven approach, exactly the opposite of the former nationally based and supply-led systems existing under socialism.' - Paul Hare, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, UK 'Here is a book that goes beyond the abstractions and platitudes of conventional "transition economics" to look at what is really happening on the ground in the post-socialist countries of Easter...
This paper analyzes the determinants of growth in 25 transition economies during 1990–97. The paper’s main finding is that macroeconomic stabilization, structural reform, and reduction of government expenditures are key to achieving sustainable growth. Although the initial effect of reforms on output may be negative, over time the best growth performances are in those countries with the greatest progress in implementing reforms. The analysis also confirms that although adverse initial conditions hurt growth, their effect is small compared to the other factors.
This study examines the challenges and issues facing policymakers in highly dollarized economies. Focusing on Cambodia, which achieved almost complete dollarization during 1991-95, the authors review recent developments in the literature on dollarization and examine the costs and benefits of dollarization in Cambodia, including the ensuing macroeconomic policy implications. They carry out an econometric estimation of cash foreign currency circulation in Cambodia in order to gauge the degree of dollarization. In addition to this analysis, the authors present a short description of Cambodia’s economic, financial, and structural background.
The Eastern Enlargement of the EU identifies the major fiscal challenges facing Central European countries on the road to European Union accession. The Introduction and three other chapters are on broad macro-economic issues, and four `sectoral' chapters follow these on such questions as the fiscal impact of pensions, health reform, taxation and agricultural policies. A comprehensive analysis of tax systems and of the major elements of public social expenditures (pensions and health care systems) is presented. This analysis helps to identify the key factors determining the present size of governments and the need for, and prospects of, fiscal adjustment. In addition, a comparison of fiscal p...
The World Bank East Asia and Pacific Economic Update is a comprehensive, twice-yearly review of the region's economies prepared by the East Asia and Pacific region of the World Bank. In this edition, the report notes that real GDP growth in East Asia has been moderating after a sharp rebound from the global crisis. Inflation has become the key short-run challenge for the authorities in the region, complicated by a surge in portfolio capital inflows and rapidly increasing food and commodity prices that hit low-income households disproportionately. Over the medium-term, East Asia has the potential to sustain rapid increases in living standards even as the global economy enters a more challenging phase.
This paper describes the issue of corruption around the world. The paper surveys and discusses issues related to the causes, consequences, and scope of corruption, and possible corrective actions. It emphasizes the costs of corruption in terms of economic growth. It also emphasizes that the fight against corruption may not be cheap and cannot be independent from the reform of the state. If certain reforms are not made, corruption is likely to continue to be a problem regardless of actions directly aimed at curtailing it.
The share of immigrants in Western and Eastern Europe has increased rapidly over the past four decades. Today, one of every three immigrants in the world goes to Europe. Furthermore, although globally only one-third of migration takes place within regions, intraregional migration is especially high within Europe and Central Asia, with 80 percent of the region's emigrants choosing to move to other countries in the region. In high-income destination countries, migrants are often blamed for high unemployment and declining social services. There are also widespread concerns about brain drain in the migrant sending countries of Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and Central Asia. This update focuses on the design of policies on labor mobility and presents the trends, determinants, and impacts of low- and high-skilled labor.
'Global Economic Prospects 2010' presents the World Bank’s latest short-term forecasts and presents evidence that the financial boom played a critical role in the growth boom experienced by developing countries between 2003 and 2007.