Despite sustained output growth since 1997, low-income Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries (CIS-7) have not experienced growth in employment, a phenomenon observed elsewhere in transitional...
The paper reviews labor market developments in the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia. It argues that the scarcity of productive job opportunities and the growing labor market segmentation...
This paper first explains the potential importance of World Trade Organization (WTO) accession as a development tool, and discusses the recent successful development models and the role of trade policy...
This paper is the introduction and summary chapter of the 43 chapter volume entitled Handbook of Trade Policy and WTO Accession for Development in Russia and the CIS. The key policy conclusions of each...
Drawing on the recent literature on economic institutions and the origins of economic development, the authors offer a political economy explanation of why institution building has varied so much across...
Major changes have occurred in the structure of former centrally planned economies, including a sharp rise in the share of services in GDP, employment, and international transactions. However, large differences...
The agrarian economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) continue to undergo systemic change and transformation. The Bank has been supporting this process...
The paper examines why economic development has fallen behind in the low-income CIS-7 countries, while private sector activity has grown in absolute terms and as a share of GDP. The paper shows that the...
Public expenditures which, as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), were 45 to 50 percent at the beginning of transition in the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, fell during...
The authors analyze the gender implications of pension reform in Kazakhstan, the Kygyz Republic, Latvia, and Moldova. The new systems deliberately penalize early retirement and reward longer careers, so...
This document presents a set of Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) questionnaires that have been developed for use in the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union. These questionnaires...
This document presents a set of Living Standard Measurement Study (LSMS) questionnaires that have been developed for use in the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union. These questionnaires...
This paper started as one of a series of overview articles initiated by the Transition Economics Division of the World Bank's Policy Research Department to review and assess the growing body of evidence...
Payments problems constrained interstate trade among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in 1992-95, especially during the prolonged demise of the ruble zone. Two kinds of solutions...
Central and Eastern European countries and the states of the former USSR have embarked on an exhilarating but difficult political and economic transition. Changes in agriculture in Central and Eastern...
This handbook consists of two parts. The first part presents comparative tables with cross-country information by topic. The second part presents main statistical indicators by country. Data in the comparative...
This paper examines several issues bearing on future trade policy and economic integration arrangements of the republics of the former Soviet Union. It looks particularly at the relation between trade...
The author surveys agricultural reform to date, identifies key policy issues, and outlines potential scenarios for the transformation of agriculture in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the former German Democratic...
Should countries such as Poland or the USSR move toward more flexible prices gradually or in a "big bang?" Why is it that governments committed to eventual price flexibility so often seem to be unable...
Economists have debated whether the Soviet Union subsidized trade with its Eastern European partners in the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Effective January 1, 1991, former CMEA members...