87,013 research outputs found
Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should
No full textThis essay surveys macroeconomic issues that marked the transition from centrally planned to market economy in Central and Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries. We first establish a set of stylized facts of the transition so far, namely: (1) output fell, (2) capital shrank, (3) labor moved, (4) trade reoriented, (5) the structure changed, (6) institutions collapsed, and (7) transition costs. We then critically survey the theoretical literature on transition, discussing various explanations for the initial output fall as well as medium term issues, such as optimal speed of transition, disorganization, institutions and sectoral reallocation as a source of output dynamics. Last, we review the empirical literature to assess how well it translates the theoretical models and explains the stylized facts. The essay concludes with a succinct list of suggestions for future research.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39854/3/wp470.pd
Stagflationary effects of stabilization programs in reforming socialist countries: Enterprise-side and household-side effects
No full textDismantling subsidies could give rise to serious macroeconomic difficulties in the short run. This article explores a view based on the enterprise sector as a central source and main channel of the stagflation phenomenon, using as an example the stagflation that followed the 1990 stabilization program in Poland. The stagflation phenomenon is linked to features of the financial market that are somewhat peculiar to reforming socialist economies: the weak credit links between households and enterprises, and the existence of large interenterprise debt. The policy implications of the enterprise-side view include more explicit consideration of initial conditions in the credit market, implementation of privatization schemes, and the development of a domestic banking system
Contemporary Rentscapes
No full textContemporary rentscapes
Chapter reporting in a summary form the results of the research: “Contemporary Rentascapes” focusing on transformative strategies for large rental housing stocks.
The first part of this project was published in the book “Re-housing, the house as an Integration device”, The second iteration of the project was published in the book “Living beyond Property”. / Capitolo che riporta in forma sintetica i risultati della ricerca “Contemporary Rentascapes” incentrato sulle strategie di trasformazione dei grandi stock abitativi in affitto. La prima parte di questo progetto è stata pubblicata nel libro Re-housing, "La casa come dispositivo di integrazione", mentre la seconda iterazione del progetto è stata pubblicata nel libro (Living beyond Property)
Output collapse in Eastern Europe: The role of credit
No full textReal bank credit in Eastern European countries after their recent stabilization programs is shown to have fallen sharply, except in the case of Hungary. The meaning of the fall is discussed from the present value and liquidity perspectives. Moreover, it is shown that the hypothesis that the output contraction may partly owe to a credit contraction cannot be ruled out. The hypothesis is tested on a sample of 85 branches of industry in Poland. Also analyzed are the rationale for expecting a connection between credit and output and the policy options available to mitigate the liquidity crunch in postsocialist economies
15 years from the Eastern Enlargement: Financial integration and economic convergence in Europe
No full textCentral Eastern European Countries (CEECs) went through a process of deep financial integration with advanced European countries, spurred by the entry in the European Union. Financial integration took place through an unprecedented entry of foreign banks in local banking markets, which led to a rapid expansion of credit and often credit booms. The global financial crisis produced a bust of these booms, with severe effects on the real economy. These dynamics raised the question of whether CEECs experienced a phenomenon of “too much credit” or “too much credit growth.”
This chapter investigated whether and how the pattern of credit boom and bust affected the productivity of the economy of CEECs through the efficiency of resource allocation within sectors. We found that rapid credit growth exerted negative effects on efficiency in old EU members, but not in CEECs, suggesting that part of the rapid credit growth in CEECs prior to the global financial crisis was an equilibrium phenomenon. Our analysis does not rule out that inefficiencies of rapid credit growth were present also in CEECs in the allocation of resources across sectors and not within sectors
Growth and crisis in transition : a comparative perspective
No full textThe paper provides an empirical analysis of the growth performance of transition countries in a comparative perspective, separating episodes of crises from those of growth. Performance is measured by the output response following recessions, rather than average rates of growth that aggregate periods of recessions and periods of growth. Results highlight significant differences between transition and non-transition countries, and heterogeneity within the transition group. Distinguishing the performance following the so-called "transitional recession" from that of "normal recessions", the analysis allows separating the role of initial conditions, pre-transition, from the effects determined by the economic structure that emerged after the launch of market reforms. The post-recession behavior of output in Central-Eastern Europe resembles that of emerging and developing countries in the aftermath of banking and financial crises, often following significant liberalizations. In contrast, the post-crisis performance of CIS countries resembles the output response observed during episodes of civil wars, and remains significantly different from the normal response of an average market country. Therefore, the ability to rebound after a crisis is a key element of the growth performance of different transition countries. Furthermore, we distinguish three components of the growth performance associated to a crisis, namely the capacity to rebound, the depth and the lenght of the crisis. We observe that such performance depends on economic reforms and especially on the complementarities among different reforms.Recessions, crises, reform complementarities, transition.
BELOW THE SHADOWS
No full textPostwar Europe served as the canvas for the aspirations of the Modern Movement to be realised on an unprecedented scale. To fight the housing shortage, each nation organized reconstruction plans amounting to tens of thousands of residential units per year, encouraging the production of modernist neighborhoods.
The layout of the dwellings aligned with the principles disseminated by contemporary international examples, yielding the success of functionalist organizational principles.
However, while the design of domestic spaces and building types grew more and more specialised, another field of architectural expertise did not enjoy the same success in those years. In opposition to perfectly working interiors, the design of the open spaces and the patches of landscape around the buildings remained a more ambiguous domain, with design categories, reference models, and ideal objectives being less clear.
This text investigates three post-war Italian social housing case studies and how the Ina-Casa Plan's organicist and bottom-up culture could not build a consistent vocabulary for open space, leaving each project to deal with its landscape and ground conditions as an isolated problem
Finance and growth in economies in transition
No full textThe paper presents an analytical discussion and empirical evidence on the adjustment of financial markets to the stabilization and reforms implemented in a transition economy, emphasizing the role of liquidity constraints. Different types of equilibria, associated with different financial structures, can emerge after reforms. The paper argues that a key role during the transition is played by private, trade credit markets. The functioning of the latter requires the existence of a minimum set of market institutions, that can impose credible penalties and rewards for 'good' behavior
The origins of the German current account surplus: Unbalanced productivity growth and structural change
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