Ownership and performance of Lithuanian enterprises

The author presents some evidence of improved corporate performance in Lithuania for the period 1995-97. His question: Were these improvements in any way caused by privatization and changes in the environment in which enterprises operate? He presents evidence of correlation between ownership and enterprise performance as measured by increased revenues, and improved export performance. Controlling for pre-selection bias increases the magnitude, and significance of private share ownership, which indicates negative selection bias at privatization. On the other hand, (expected) subsidies seem to contribute negatively to enterprise performance. However, the study finds no clear evidence of the effect of market competition on performance indicators in the short run. The author's is the first study to analyze the consequences of commercial (as opposed to mass) privatization in Central and Eastern European countries.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,FinancialCrisis Management&Restructuring,Judicial System Reform,Legal Institutions of the Market Economy,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Judicial System Reform

Industrial growth and the quality of institutions : what do (transition) economies have to gain from the Rule of Law?

The authors empirically test the link between industrial growth and indicators of institutional quality. They find significant evidence that institutional quality affects inindustrial growth in 27 Asian and Latin American countries. Their results suggest that the development of the legal and regulatory framework works its way to industrial growth through both investment and total factor productivity. The implications for policymakers in transition economies: Institution building should complement privatization, public and private investment in education, research and development, and measures to promote foreign direct investment. Specifically, policymakers should try to reduce corruption, eliminate bureacratic barriers, and improve the legal environment and contract enforcement. Special attention should also be given to measures to deepen financial intermediation, improve the financial sector infrastructure, and increase the efficiency of financial transactions.Governance Indicators,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Economic Theory&Research,Trade and Regional Integration

How Tight is Too Tight? A Look at Welfare Implications of Distortionary Policies in Uzbekistan

Since independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has pursued a gradual approach to the transition from planned to market economy. This approach relied heavily on trade controls, directed credit, and large public investments. In addition, a number of financial sector measures were instituted that distorted resource allocation and increased transaction costs. As a result, while possibly preventing the contraction of output in the early 1990s, these policies led to disappointing economic outcomes and social conditions later on. The paper reviews the underlying distortions and presents survey-based evidence to support their existence and their detrimental impact on economic activity. Looking forward, the paper - using a representative agent framework to model existing financial sector distortions - offers some guidance regarding the likely implications of eliminating these distortions on key aggregate variables. It suggests that the elimination of these distortions will be welfare enhancing and will lead to higher levels of investment and capital stock.financial sector distortions, transition, Uzbekistan

Equation of state at high densities and modern compact star observations

Recently, observations of compact stars have provided new data of high accuracy which put strong constraints on the high-density behaviour of the equation of state of strongly interacting matter otherwise not accessible in terrestrial laboratories. The evidence for neutron stars with high mass (M =2.1 +/- 0.2 M_sun for PSR J0751+1807) and large radii (R > 12 km for RX J1856-3754) rules out soft equations of state and has provoked a debate whether the occurence of quark matter in compact stars can be excluded as well. In this contribution it is shown that modern quantum field theoretical approaches to quark matter including color superconductivity and a vector meanfield allow a microscopic description of hybrid stars which fulfill the new, strong constraints. The deconfinement transition in the resulting stiff hybrid equation of state is weakly first order so that signals of it have to be expected due to specific changes in transport properties governing the rotational and cooling evolution caused by the color superconductivity of quark matter. A similar conclusion holds for the investigation of quark deconfinement in future generations of nucleus-nucleus collision experiments at low temperatures and high baryon densities such as CBM @ FAIR.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. G. (Special Issue