Reforming Social Security in a Transition Economy: The Case of Lithuania

This paper points out a number of problems associated with the existing pension system in Lithuania. Reforms are proposed, including (i) a substantial increase in the basic pension benefit rate, financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, provided universally, and regulated according to wage/price indexation; (ii) a significant cut in the tax contribution rate to the public pension system matched by a rise in the VAT; (iii) a rise in the retirement age to 65 for both men and women; and (iv) a gradual conversion to a private, funded, mandatory pension system to replace the earnings-related part of the current pension system.     

Does the Effect of Inequality on Growth Present an Inverted U Curve？ --Empirical Evidences from Transition Economies

本文以7个代表性转型国家1986—2009年跨国面板数据为样本，利用面板数据模型分析了收入差距对经济增长影响轨迹是否呈倒U型曲线。研究结果表明，转型国家收入差距与经济增长之间存在倒U型曲线关系。即使在样本中除去收入差距较严重的中国数据，收入差距对经济增长影响的倒U型曲线的证据仍然存在。近似计算，基尼系数为0．42是收入差距对经济增长影响由正变负的拐点。本文还发现，经济自由度这一制度因素对中国经济增长有较大影响。中国政府应积极探索有利于缩小收入差距，促进经济增长的经济发展方式及制度环境，包括加大公共服务供给，健全社会保障体系，进一步推进国有企业改革，推进政府体制改革，推动市场化进程，纠正要素价格扭曲行为，打破垄断，深化税制改革，完善转移支付制度等。     

Purchasing power parity in transition countries: Old wine with new bottle

This study questions whether the long-run purchasing power parity (PPP) holds in the transition economies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romanian, and Russia) for the period from January 1995 to October 2011. We employ the Sequential Panel Selection Method (SPSM) procedure using the Panel KSS unit root test with a Fourier function, a novel approach to panel unit root testing. The SPSM approach classifies the whole panel into a group of stationary and non-stationary series and is able to account for structural breaks, nonlinearity, and cross-section dependence. The results indicate that the PPP holds true for more than half of these transition countries studied, with the exception of Hungarian, the Czech Republic and the Russia. The findings have important policy implications for the transition countries.     

An evaluation of government- sponsored vocational training programmes for the unemployed in urban Russia

This is the first study on the effects of active labour marketprograms such as training in Russia. We use the data from theofficial unemployment register combined with information fromthe follow-up survey in a large industrial city in the year2000. The method of propensity score matching was applied tolearn whether participation in the training programmes increasedthe monthly salaries of participants. The findings suggest thatindividuals tend to benefit from the participation in the trainingprogrammes. However, one year later, this effect disappeared.     

出口退税政策对我国外贸增长方式转变的影响效应及建议

本文分析了出口退税政策对我国外贸增长方式转变的影响效应，并在此基础上提出利用出口退税政策促进我国外贸增长方式根本转变的几点建议。     

Convergence of interest rate pass-through in a wider euro zone?

This study investigates interest rate pass-through convergence for the eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) that joined the European Union. Based on a unifying empirical pass-through model that allows for thresholds, asymmetric adjustment, and structural changes, we find that the pass-through in many CEECs has become faster over time and is generally more complete than in the euro zone. We find evidence for convergence across CEECs with market concentration, bank health, foreign bank participation and monetary policy regime as conditioning factors. No convergence of the CEEC pass-through is found vis-à-vis the heterogeneous euro zone.     

Continued decline for ethnic minorities in the transition?

Using three Bulgarian cross‐sectional household surveys from 1986, 1993 and 1997, this essay shows that the mean log wage differential between ethnic Bulgarians and Turks increased from 0.1615 in 1986 to 0.2874 in 1993 and again to 0.4075 by 1997. Bulgarian gains over ethnic Turks in the early transition are related to both changes in the relative returns to skill and changes in the composition of demand for goods and services as the country moved toward a market economy. The Turks began the transition with fewer years of education than the Bulgarians, and began to close the education gap over this time. The Bulgarians, however, were more likely to have obtained more general secondary and university degrees than the ethnic Turks – degrees that, in contrast to technical or vocational degrees, are experiencing increased remuneration in the transition. With more of an asset that has become more valuable, the ethnic Bulgarians improved their relative position.     

中国经济增长中的结构平滑转移

本文应用考虑结构平滑转移的单位根检验方法,对中国22个主要的宏观经济变量进行了检验,结果表明其中半数能够拒绝单位根假设,可以用非线性确定趋势过程加以描述。除就业人员序列外,其余变量均不具有显著的非对称调整特征。实际GDP序列在改革开放初期发生了一次结构渐变,稳态增长率由原来的4.4%逐步提高到7.2%,标志着我国经济整体上已经平稳过渡到了一个更高的发展阶段。     

中国基本养老保险制度财务平衡与可持续性研究——基于国发［2005］38号文件形成的城镇基本养老保险制度

采用"到期债务"定义,按照国发[2005]38号文件形成的制度模式,通过构造公式测算了基本养老保险制度的隐性债务、转制成本理论值以及基金缺口的期限结构。结论表明:做实个人账户真正实现了"统账结合、分账管理、实账运行";社会统筹账户基金缺口规模被有效降低,偿债周期可以接受;社会统筹账户是一个精算盈余的制度安排,缴费率存在下降空间;参保率和缴费基数对基金缺口规模的影响很大,应进一步提高参保率和严格规范缴费基数。