Selected transition and Mediterranean countries: an institutional primer on EMU and EU accession

The paper examines the institutional channels through which Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the European Union (EU) can affect the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and three Mediterranean countries that aspire to join the EU.
After describing the current institutional framework for relations between the EU and these countries, the paper considers two categories of institutional implications of EMU. The first stems from the need to satisfy the Maastricht convergence criteria before joining the euro area. Although the Maastricht criteria are not accession criteria, many of the countries reviewed are already formulating their macroeconomic policies in a way that will facilitate convergence toward the Maastricht targets. The second implication stems from the need to adopt the EU's institutional and legal provisions in the area of EMU, such as those referring to the establishment of independent central banks, the prohibition of central bank financing of the government and the liberalization of capital movements. Finally, the paper discusses some of the key policy issues that EMU raises for the countries reviewed, in particular regarding exchange rate policy, capital account liberalization and the possible conflict between growth-enhancing measures and the Maastricht criteria.     

Poverty among ethnic minorities: the transition process,inequality and economic growth

This article investigates the process of reducing poverty in ethnic minority households. Using two recent Vietnam household surveys, we find that ethnic minority households are more likely to be persistently poor and less likely to be persistently non-poor than ethnic majority households. The within-group component generated by the variation in income within each ethnicity group explains more than 90% of the change in total inequality. Income redistribution plays an important role in decreasing the poverty gap and decreasing poverty severity. Different ethnic groups have different poverty patterns, which should be noted when designing policies to alleviate poverty and inequality.     

Biogeographical conditions, the transition to agriculture and long-run growth

We use new data on the timing of the transition to agriculture, developed by Putterman and Trainor (2006), to test the theory of Diamond (1997) and Olsson and Hibbs (2005) that an earlier transition is reflected in higher incomes today. Our results confirm the theory, even after controlling for institutional quality and other geographical factors. The date of transition is correlated with prehistoric biogeography (the availability of wild grasses and large domesticable animal species). The factors conducive to high per capita incomes today are good institutions, an early transition to agriculture, access to the sea and a low incidence of fatal malaria. Geographical influences have been at work in all of these proximate determinants of per capita income.     

FDI and growth in transition economies: Does the mode of transition make a difference?

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are a unique group of countries. In the process of transformation to market economies, some of them adopted the “shock therapy” while others the “gradualism” mode. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays an important role in economic growth through the addition of physical capital, technological know-how, management skill and marketing network. This paper empirically demonstrates that the mode of transformation definitely affects the effectiveness of FDI in promoting growth. (JEL: P3, P33)     

Life expectancy and economic growth: the role of the demographic transition

This paper investigates the hypothesis that the causal effect of life expectancy on income per capita growth is non-monotonic. This hypothesis follows from the recent literature on unified growth, in which the demographic transition represents an important turning point for population dynamics and hence plays a central role for the transition from stagnation to growth. Results from different empirical specifications and identification strategies document that the effect is non-monotonic, negative (but often insignificant) before the onset of the demographic transition, but strongly positive after its onset. The results provide a new interpretation of the contradictory existing evidence and have relevant policy implications.     

制度转型、经济增长和交易费用——来自中国各省市的经验分析

交易费用的测量是新制度经济学里面最核心的问题。中国的制度转型及其经济增长为检验新制度经济学的核心理论提供了很好的样本。本文力争在国内外文献的基础上做出如下贡献。第一,我们采用沃利斯和诺思（Wallis,North,1986）的基本思路,首次对中国各省的交易费用进行了测算。第二,我们对制度转型、经济增长和中国的交易费用的关系进行了实证分析,发现制度转型降低了中国的交易费用,证实了好的制度就是节约交易费用;但是经济增长却没有显著地促进交易费用的增加,这与正统的新制度经济理论预期不符;第三,我们证实了交易也存在一定的规模效应,当市场上的交易费用达到一定的程度时,由于规模效应可能会节省每笔交易的交易费用,从而导致每笔交易的交易费用减少。