Distance in time between transition economies and the European Union

The time distance methodology used offers a new perspective to the problem, an additional statistical measure, and a presentation tool for policy analysis and debate readily understood by policy makers, media and general public. Disparity between the analysed transition economies and EU countries is considerably smaller for other indicators than for GDP per capita. Compared with Ireland, Portugal and Greece Slovenia was in 1995 in 13 cases behind (but time lag of Slovenia never exceeded 10 years) and in 13 cases ahead of them. Sicherl (1997a) discusses application of S-distance to time series regressions, models, forecasting and monitoring. First version received: October 1995/final version received: April 1998     

Cagan’s paradox and money demand in hyperinflation: Revisited at daily frequency

Using daily data the Cagan money demand is estimated and accepted for the most severe portion of Serbia’s 1992–1993 hyperinflation, i.e. its last 6 months. An implication is that the public adjusted daily throughout this extreme period. Moreover, the obtained semi-elasticity estimates are by far lower than those previously found using monthly data sets. Consequently, the daily estimates reject the longstanding Cagan’s paradox, based on monthly studies, by showing that the economy has been on the correct, increasing side of the Laffer curve almost through the end of hyperinflation. This strongly supports the view that hyperinflation is triggered and driven all way through its end by the government’s hunt for non-decreasing seigniorage. Daily adjustments of public in hyperinflation can account for the difference between the results obtained at daily and monthly frequencies, calling into question the latter. Some evidence is offered that the findings of this paper may hold for other hyperinflations.     

Analysis of fatal injuries in Serbian underground coal mines – 50 years review

Abstract

The study presented here analyzes mining accidents and fatal injuries in Serbian underground coal mines over a period of 50?years, in order to assess the effectiveness of legislation changes in the overall safety of work environment. Two distinct periods, prior to 2000 and after 2000 were compared. The data from the period after 2000 were further analyzed to provide better understanding of the results. In order to assess the overall state of safety in Serbian mines, the data on fatal injuries were also compared to the international data. It was found that the legislative changes are more easily accepted by the common workers than by the mine management. Consequently, the key recommendation for the safety of coal mine companies in Serbia is the investment in the new technology. Additionally, mine management should be in the focus of the mining inspection with a stronger penal policy regarding mine safety neglect.     

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES IN YUGOSLAVIA

Regional distribution of government expenditures is examined first in relation to other indicators of economic and social development. This shows both the magnitude of regional disparities and the degree of redistribution in the field of government expenditures brought about by the federal subsidy. The static aspect of regional disparities is analysed by decomposing per capita income into demographic, employment and productivity components. The time-dimension of disparities is analysed by introducing the concept of time-distance, which is a dynamic measure of disparity that is complementary rather than competitive with existing static measures.
Institutional aspects are explored next, along with some implications of the present system of federal subsidy as an instrument towards regional equalization of the budgetary resources available to lower levels of government. A few alternative technical solutions to improve the present system are discussed and a set of macro-variables is suggested as a framework within which the degree of equalization, which is basically a political decision, could be discussed in an explicit and systematic way. While the question of the appropriate degree of equalization remains a problem with many facets, it can be shown that government expenditures have been distributed much more equally than the corresponding levels of regional economic activity.     

Price distortion and income dispersion in a labor-managed economy: Evidence from Yugoslavia

Although the standard literature on a labor-managed economy implies price distortions and spillovers of profits into wages, the evidence obtained for the Yugoslav economy does not support these predictions. In particular, price distortions in the mid-1970s are found to be small. Price deviations estimated by means of linear price models permit the calculation of excess profits and permit testing of whether they spill over into incomes. Again, contrary to what the standard theory predicts, only a small fraction of such profits is transferred into incomes.