Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons^™

Characteristics Of The Labor Market And Human Resources Management In The Republic Of Kazakhstan, Bolat L. Tibekov, Janet S. Adams, Nancy Prochaska

Faculty Articles

Kazakhstan, an emerging economy moving from a communist centralized command approach to global market participation, shares issues with other republics in the Common Wealth of Independent States. Competitive advantages that bode well for its successful transition include abundant oil reserves, a developing legal system, and a government that appears to have learned from the mistakes of other CIS nations. However, the Republic has serious problems of population decline, poor infrastructure, and workforce habits incompatible with a market economy. This paper focuses on labor market and human resource issues that must be addressed of Kazakhstan to be competitive in the world …

Community Norms And Organizational Practices: The Legitimization Of Wage Arrears In Russia, 1992-1999, John S. Earle, Andrew Spicer, Klara Sabirianova Peter

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

What role do community norms play in the diffusion and persistence of new organizational practices? We explore this question through an examination of the widespread practice of wage arrears, the late and non-payment of wages, in Russia during the 1990s. Existing research on wage arrears most often examines this practice as a means of flexible wage adjustment under difficult economic conditions. We develop an alternative theory that explains wage arrears through their acceptance as a legitimate form of organizational behavior within local communities. Our empirical analysis finds some support for the neoclassical position that wage arrears reflect adjustment to negative …

Monetary-Policy Targeting In The Central European Transition Economies, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

This chapter examines the monetary-policy-targeting systems, in the second half of the 1990s (until 1998), of three Central European EU-accession candidates—the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland--and advocates the potential benefits of applying a direct-inflation-targeting (DIT) system in them. For the purpose of the analysis presented here, DIT is defined as "a monetary policy framework that is based on the assumption of long-term price stability as the official policy goal and on the designation of the official inflation forecast as intermediate policy target" (Orlowski, 2000). Section 1 is a brief overview of monetary-targeting practices in the Czech Republic Hungary, and Poland. …

Job Reallocation And Productivity Growth Under Alternative Economic Systems And Policies: Evidence From The Soviet Transition, J. David Brown, John S. Earle

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

How do economic policies and institutions affect job reallocation processes and their consequences for productivity growth? This paper studies the extreme case of economic system change and alternative transitional policies in the former Soviet Republics of Russia and Ukraine. Exploiting annual industrial census data from 1985 to 2000, we find that Soviet Russia displayed job flow behavior quite different from market economies, with very low rates of job reallocation that bore little relationship to relative productivity across firms and sectors. Since liberalization began, the pace, heterogeneity, and productivity effects of job flows have increased substantially. The increases occurred more quickly …

Evaluating Labor Market Performance: Employment Reallocation And Productivity Growth In Russia, John S. Earle

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

How Late To Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears In Russia, John S. Earle, Klara Sabirianova Peter

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We organize an empirical analysis of Russian wage arrears around hypotheses concerning factors that create incentives for firms to pay late and for workers to tolerate late payment, both reinforced by a prevalent environment of overdue wages. Our analysis draws upon nationally representative household panel data matched with employer data to show substantial interfirm variation with the probability of arrears positively related to firm age, size, state ownership, and declining performance. Estimation of a constrained multinomial logit model also reveals intrafirm, variation related to job tenure and small shareholdings in the firm. Workers tend to have higher arrears in rural …

Evaluating Active Labor Market Programs In Transition Economies, Christopher J. O'Leary

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Sacred Politics: Is Heaven Closed To The Wretched Of The Earth?, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article explores the political and religious implications of a decision by the leaders of a religious institution for many of its followers and the appeal of the religion itself.

Climate For Foreign Investments In Poland. An Emphasis On Polish-American Relations In The Post-Cold Global Economy, Jacek M. Hurkala

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

The Great Transition: The Dynamics Of Market Transitions And The Case Of Russia, 1991-1995, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The market transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union brings us back to essential issues that Marx and Weber addressed: the genesis of capitalism and the process of economic change. What is the transition and what does it involve - restructuring incentives, creating new laws, learning new culture, or creating new power structures? The answer partially depends on the particular transition (initial conditions, targets, actors' perceptions); but necessary general frameworks remain elusive, and current economic policies and analyses reveal that we understand little more about economic change than a century ago. Recent works on market transitions have furthered …

Russia's Economic Stability: Recent Evidence And Policy Implications, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Disintegration Of The Ruble Zone: Driving Forces And Proposals For Policy Change, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

This paper examines the irreversible process of the ruble zone disintegration. The theoretical fundamentals of a common currency area, with modifications incorporating a mechanism of transition from central planning, are discussed. The key reason for the ruble zone break-up is the discontinuation of indirect transfers that were provided mainly by Russia via underpricing energy exports to other republics. Being cut-off from such transfers and unable to finance the rising trade deficits with Russia, the independent states wish to disconnect their economies from the ruble zone. Among other economic arguments for leaving the ruble zone presented by the former Soviet republics …

Indirect Transfers In Trade Among Former Soviet Union Republics: Sources, Patterns, And Policy Responses In The Post-Soviet Period, Lucjan T. Orlowski

WCBT Faculty Publications

Reports on indirect transfers in trade among the former Soviet Union Republics. The Former Soviet Union (FSU) was composed of 15 republics which were very unevenly endowed with human, physical and natural resources. To contain regional imbalances within the Union and to integrate all republics into a tight and centrally commanded division of labour, the central government operated a scheme of vertical fiscal redistribution between the Union budget and the republican budgets. Through this system poorer republics became net receivers of direct transfers and richer republics became net donors. This scheme, which collapsed with the dissolution of the Union in …

Soviet Russia: An Interpretation, John J. Heeren

Open Learning Resources, General/Selected

Summary

This paper offers an interpretation of Soviet Russia, based upon several weeks of direct observation and investigation conducted in the summer of 1932. The Soviet Union presents itself as a colossal experiment in recasting human society along Marxian lines. The following pages examine both the philosophical underpinnings of Communism and the visible outworking of this revolutionary transformation. Impressive industrial centers reflect a Planned Economy of great ambition, yet marred by shortages, inefficiencies, and a reliance upon capitalistic methods such as piecework and wage incentives. Visible wealth and inequality have been replaced with widespread, uniform poverty. In the countryside, collectivization …