Analyzing financial sectors in transition : with special reference to the Former Soviet Union

This paper proposes a framework for analyzing the evolution of financial sectors in economies transiting from command to market structures. Most commentators have tended to regard this"Transition"as an undifferentiated period to be traversed as rapidly as possible. In doing so they ignore the increasing evidence that the Transition can be an extended, even enduring, state of the world, resulting from a complex interaction of economic, political, cultural and psychological factors. As such, it can and does generate incentives which fundamentally distort the behavior of economic agents in unpredictable ways. The authors argue that one result of ignoring the true messiness of the Transition is that the analysis and policy recommendations offered to governments can be flawed and often provide conclusions which are odds with the reality on the ground. The paper discusses this concern and proposes a simple analytical framework both for focusing on the Transition itself and also for use in defining and evaluating possible public policy interventions for the banking sector. This paper is organized as follows. Section II sketches the main shortcomings of the traditional analyses of the financial sector in transition - particularly the limitations of current thinking on the sequencing of financial sector reforms. Section III introduces and elaborates on the basic framework proposed. Section IV uses the framework to distill some simple but important propositions about transition banking. Section V provides an initial qualitative test of the framework, by using it as a lens through which to view some of the characteristics of transition banks which we have observed. It shows that behavior patterns which, at first glance, seem curious and counterproductive, do indeed have a rational explanation when viewed in relation to the analytical framework we propose. Section VI applies the proposed analytical approach to assess the appropriateness of various interventions -- especially those which have proved popular in the World Bank -- to support the financial sector transition. Two Annexes then elaborate particular aspects of the analysis. Annex 1 assesses how our analysis might recondition thinking about the appropriate regulatory and supervisory structures for transition banking. Annex 2 provides some initial empirical results based on our proposed framework of analysis.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Labor Policies,Financial Intermediation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Banks&Banking Reform

Activity-Dependent Regulation of HCN Pacemaker Channels by Cyclic AMP Signaling through Dynamic Allosteric Coupling

AbstractSignal transduction in neurons is a dynamic process, generally thought to be driven by transient changes in the concentration of second messengers. Here we describe a novel regulatory mechanism in which the dynamics of signaling through cyclic AMP are mediated by activity-dependent changes in the affinity of the hyperpolarization-activated, cation nonselective (HCN) channels for cAMP, rather than by changes in cAMP concentration. Due to the allosteric coupling of channel opening and ligand binding, changes in cellular electrical activity that alter the opening of the HCN channels modify the binding of static, basal levels of cAMP. These changes in ligand binding produce long-lasting changes in channel function which can contribute to the regulation of rhythmic firing patterns

THE FAUSTIAN BARGAIN OF THE SOVIET AUTOMOBILE

publishedVersion(c) 2008 by the Program on East European Cultures and Societies, a program of the Faculty of Arts, Norwegian University of Science and Technolog

Searching for plasticity in dissociated cortical cultures on multi-electrode arrays

We attempted to induce functional plasticity in dense cultures of cortical cells using stimulation through extracellular electrodes embedded in the culture dish substrate (multi-electrode arrays, or MEAs). We looked for plasticity expressed in changes in spontaneous burst patterns, and in array-wide response patterns to electrical stimuli, following several induction protocols related to those used in the literature, as well as some novel ones. Experiments were performed with spontaneous culture-wide bursting suppressed by either distributed electrical stimulation or by elevated extracellular magnesium concentrations as well as with spontaneous bursting untreated. Changes concomitant with induction were no larger in magnitude than changes that occurred spontaneously, except in one novel protocol in which spontaneous bursts were quieted using distributed electrical stimulation

Escaping in Twentieth-Century Russia

The article was submitted on 15.06.2017.This article considers the escapees who populated Russia’s twentieth century in astonishingly large numbers. By escapees, the authors mean not only those who had been incarcerated, exiled, and deported, but also others who ignored or willfully violated regulations limiting movement – peasant settlers moving “irregularly” to scarcely-populated or recently depopulated areas; seasonal workers making independent employment arrangements; migrants to the city without the proper papers but desperate to access resources unavailable in the countryside; officials keen to avoid inferior assignments; refugees and evacuees deviating from assigned destinations. These evasive practices are characterized as migrant repertoires, that is, the relationships and networks of contact marked by geographic origin, gender, kinship, friendship, and professional identity that permitted them to adapt to or evade particular migration regimes. State-organized regimes of migration set the terms and resources of movement for all sorts of migrants, from settlers to deportees. The range of migrants surveyed confirms the ambition of Imperial and especially Soviet authorities to manage their peoples, but also the limited capacity of these states to do so. Thus the article suggests that the assumption of people’s powerlessness in the face of overwhelming state power should be reconsidered.Предметом внимания авторов статьи являются самовольные мигранты, которых в России в XX в. было поразительно много. Под самовольными мигрантами подразумеваются не только заключенные в тюрьму, сосланные и депортированные, но и те, кто игнорировал либо умышленно нарушал правила, ограничивающие передвижение, – крестьяне-поселенцы, осуществлявшие «нерегулярные» миграции в малонаселенные или недавно оставленные людьми районы; сезонные работники, самостоятельно вступавшие в трудовые отношения; мигранты в города, не имевшие необходимых документов, но отчаянно нуждавшиеся в доступе к ресурсам, отсутствующим в сельской местности; должностные лица, стремившиеся избежать невыгодных для себя назначений; беженцы и эвакуированные, отклонявшиеся от предписанного маршрута. Эти миграционные практики характеризуются в контексте межличностных взаимоотношений и сетей контактов по признакам географического происхождения, пола, родства, дружбы и профессиональной идентичности, позволяющим им адаптироваться либо уклоняться от определенных миграционных режимов. Организованные государством режимы миграции устанавливают условия и ресурсы передвижения для всех видов мигрантов, от поселенцев до депортированных. Результаты опроса ряда мигрантов подтверждают стремление имперских и особенно советских властей управлять людьми, но в то же время демонстрируют ограниченность их возможностей в этой сфере. Таким образом, авторы статьи полагают, что предположение о бессилии людей перед лицом подавляющей государственной машины преувеличено

Employees' entrepreneurial contributions to firms in Russia, 1995–2004

This article examines how employee self-reported entrepreneurial contributions evolved in firms operating in Russia in 1995–2004 and whether changes can be explained by Akerlof's theory of implicit gift exchange in labour contracts. We find that these contributions were indeed influenced by wage premia and shifting work norms, declining by about a half during the period and with a particularly marked fall in contributions by manual workers. The trend was found among foreign-owned, private Russian-owned and state-owned companies. Akerlof's model therefore helps explain Russian workers' changing behaviour

When fish speak English

“What did you just say?” This is the world where cognitive psychology, neural linguistics, risk communication and prose meet the hard sciences. In the Salish Sea, people are aching for meaning, narratives, tools and pathways to help protect what they love or what lines their wallets... but only if they understand the value of Puget Sound as a biological place, a community, an economy and a braided culture. The pathway from data to knowledge to understanding to action is a circuitous and long path which starts with clear communication and first and foremost, understanding our target audiences. These are the people, institutions and communities of practice we are asking something from- -to change a buying or transportation habit, to adopt new policies or to plan land use differently. The void between technical lexicon and action by non-scientists and engineers is substantial. Closing this void requires interdisciplinary problem solving and implementation at all scales and more than a bit of humanity and humility. In a world pregnant with misinformation, anger and divisiveness, the natural resource community has an outstanding opportunity to foster conversations about values and a positive future that will lead to real results for Puget Sound as a place. We are at an inflection point nationally where good science communication and building social capital is urgent. Who is a scientist? Who are we? This session will address the brain, the mind, science communication, use of humor, building communities of practice and garnering support from the most unlikely of allies. It will also feature a fish of notable fame

Mark Pittaway, The Worker´s State

Mark Pittaway uses “the worker’s state” ironically, much as Miklós Haraszti did in a similarly titled book, to underscore feelings of alienation and powerlessness among socialist Hungary’s industrial workers. But unlike Haraszti’s slim volume, a sociographic account of his own experience working at Budapest’s Red Star Tractor Factory in the early 1970s, Pittaway’s is squarely in the tradition of the “new” labor history that arose in Great Britain in the 1970s and spread therefrom to the rest ..