Understanding Reform: The Case of Poland

This report reviews the reform process in Poland in the period 1989-2001, from the formation of the first non-Communist government to the defeat of right-wing forces in the 2001 parliamentary elections and the formation of a governing left-wing coalition of social democrats and the peasants’ party (both of them with roots in the Communist era). It reconstructs the sequence of reforms, assesses their relative successes, and focuses on the problem of the stagnation of the reform process at the end of the 1990s.Poland, reform, transition

The development of modern Chinese banking

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThis study purports to evaluate the relationship between the Chinese modern banking system and the activities or the national economy and to describe the significance of its development on China's peace and war economy. The problem is to be approached by tracing the formation of banking institutions and developments, by investigating the internal organization and practices and by analyzing the influence of Government financial policies. It covers the period from the appearance of the first Chinese-owned modern bank in 1897 to the New Monetary Reform in 1948. The meagerness of data necessarily renders this study far from being complete; the most significant characteristics of the development, however, are to be considered

State regulation of the national currency exchange rate by gold and foreign currency reserve management

Status of the national currency of Ukraine exchange rate has been characterized as unstable in recent years. Herewith, the Government has not implemented decisive measures on its stabilization, as a rule, underestimating the importance of the Hryvnia exchange rate stability for the successful economic growth in terms of socio-economic transformations. It should also be noted that in modern conditions among scientific and methodical approaches to the State exchange rate formation mechanisms some uncertainty regarding basic and additional tools for such regulatory activities allocation is still persist. The problem relevance is exacerbated by the lack of effective policy (coordination between the NBU and the Government actions) regarding the national currency stabilization as an indispensable prerequisite for an effective macroeconomic development. These circumstances determine the importance of factors influencing the national currency exchange rate and its regulation tools research, as well as new organizational and economic mechanisms for the national currency exchange rate in Ukraine stabilization identification. In the emerging market economy conditions formation of the efficient State currency exchange-rate regulation system provides an opportunity not only to stabilize its exchange rate in different socio-economic conditions, but to create the basis for improvement the country economic development as a whole. Given this, the issue of effective tools for the national currency exchange-rate regulation by the state determination is of theoretical, practical and methodological significance. This emphasizes the relevance of further scientific-methodological and practical principles in-depth development for the national currency exchange-rate regulation

Financial Institutions, Financial Contagion, and Financial Crises

This paper endogenizes financial contagion and financial crises from financial institutions. We show that financial crises can emanate from financial institutions which generate soft-budget constraints (SBC). The prevailing SBC in an economy distort in-formation such that the interbank lending market faces a "lemon" problem. The lemon problem in the lending market may contribute to bank-run contagions and can lead to the collapse of the lending market while inducing a run on the economy. Moreover, due to the lemon problem in the financial system, a rational government policy in this economy will lead to a SBC trap that all the illiquid banks are to be bailed out. In comparison, we show that an economy with a predominance of diversified financial institutions will be featured by hard-budget constraints. From this point, we show mechanisms that in this economy firms disclose timely information to the banks and to the financial market as a whole. Thus bank runs can be stopped, contagious risks contained and financial crisis prevented.Financial Institutions, Corporate Finance, Bank Run, Financial Contaigion, Financial Crisis

The formation of community based organizations in sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis of a quasi-experiment.

Previous analyses of the formation and comparison of community based organizations (CBOs) have used cross section data. So, causal inference has been compromised. We obviate this problem by using data from a quai-experiment in which villages were formed by government officials selecting and clustering households. Our findings are as follow: CBO co-memberships are more likely between geographically proximate households and less likely between early and late settlers, members of female headed households are not excluded, in poorer villages CBO co-membership networks are denser and, while wealthier households may have been instrumental in setting up CBOs, poorer households engage shortly afterwards.Community Based Organizations; quasi-experiment; social networks

NON-AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN THE UNITED STATES: ROLES, DIFFICULTIES, AND PROSPECTS

A wide variety of cooperatives outside the agricultural sector have been playing an important role in the nation's rural and urban areas by providing housing for the elderly and poor, affordable health care, child care, and education. These firms may constitute both business models that reduce the cost of operating a business and effective community development models that forge cooperation among local government and communities. However, limited information is available about how these non-agricultural cooperatives operate, how they were formed, or what are their problems or difficulties as non-traditional cooperatives. This study of 162 randomly selected non-agricultural cooperatives across the United States attempts to answer these questions and finds that even this small sample of non-agricultural cooperatives played an important role in various sectors of the nation's economy (e.g., retail), serving slightly less than half a million members in 1996. Most of these non-agricultural cooperatives had been in business for over 30 years, showing their tenacity in today's highly competitive world. Most of these cooperatives were professionally managed. While raising equity was the most difficult problem during their formation stage, competition in their major market (trade) area was the most difficult current problem. The problem of balancing the interests of cooperative members was a major problem for these non-agricultural cooperatives. According to these non-agricultural cooperatives, training and education of the cooperative board of directors, management, and employees is an important factor for cooperative success.non-agricultural cooperatives, formation, operation, factors affecting success, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

FOOD SECURITY AND PDS IN TRIPURA: A POLICY INTERVENTION

Tripura is facing the problem of food insecurity for quite some long period of time and lagging behind the most other states of India with respect to the development of human capital, agriculture and industry. Food security is one of the basic criteria for the formation and improvement of human capital and also productivity of human being. The working of PDS and other government policies have not been successful in achieving food security at the desired level. However the recent offtake pattern of PDS supply shows a decelerating trend and hence raises the question of maintaining the PDS in the state. The paper tries to analyse the food security condition of the state during the last two decades and the working of PDS in Tripura with some macro measures.Food security, Public Distribution System

The Role of Blue Sky Laws After NSMIA and the JOBS Act

State securities laws—in particular, state laws requiring that securities offered by issuers be registered with the states—have been an impediment to the efficient movement of capital to its highest and best use. The pernicious effects of these laws—generally referred to as “blue sky laws”—have been felt most acutely by small businesses, a vital component of our national economy. It has been difficult to remedy this problem. States and state regulators have been tenacious in protecting their registration authority from federal preemption. The Securities and Exchange Commission, on the other hand, has been reluctant to advocate for preemption and unwilling to exercise its delegated power to expand preemption by regulation. In recent years some progress has been made toward a more efficient regulation of capital formation, principally as a result of some congressional preemption of state registration authority. Nonetheless, state registration provisions continue to impede significantly businesses’—especially small businesses’—efficient access to external capital. Further gains in efficient regulation of capital formation can be achieved but require actions both by states and the federal government. States must allocate more resources and effort toward vigorous enforcement of their antifraud provisions. At the federal level, Congress must preempt completely state registration authority. This duty of preemption falls to Congress, because the Commission has shown a sustained unwillingness to exercise its broad, delegated power to preempt state registration authority

Formation of Digital Competence of State Servants in the Conditions of Government Digitalisation: The Problem Statement

In the context of public administration digitalization the importance of human resources and their quality increases, which requires state employees to possess new digital competencies (knowledge and skills), and often to master new professional functions that enable them to function effectively in the new digital environment. However, under these conditions, in the process of their professional socialization, a number of problems emerge. The purpose of the research is to determine the conditions and factors affecting the digital competency formation required in the transition to digital public administration of the civil servants digital competencies, as well as to identify contradictions that emerge in their formation process. The study was conducted on the basis of the information society concept, E-Government and the paradigm of the new public administration. The main research methods were documents analysis and statistical data analysis. The study has fixed that one of the factors hindering successful professional socialization in the context of public administration digitalisation is the uncertainty in the content of servants’ digital competencies they need, including taking into account future development prospects. The existing vocational education system cannot form digital competencies at the required level for several reasons (closed access to basic digital services and platforms, a variety of departmental digital services and workflow systems available in only one department, etc.). Civil servants are forced to master digital technology is more on its own. The main contradiction emerges in the process of creating digital competencies is the lack of officially fixed requirements for the availability of state and municipal employees’ digital competencies and the lack of mechanisms for their assessment in the selection or certification process. Moreover, the need to master the relevant digital competencies follows from regulatory documents. Keywords: digital competency of civil servants, digital competencies, digital literacy, professional socialization, digitalisation of public administratio