The Belarusian Case of Transition : Whither Financial Repression?

The present paper examines the financial development of Belarus, with special emphasis on 1996-2002, when the financial sector was restrained by pervasive government controls. Belarus is of particular interest, as, despite no economic restructuring, annual growth has averaged seven per cent since 1997. It has been argued that monetary stimulation of investment activity through interest rate ceilings, directed credit and preferential loans revived growth. This article investigates whether a repressive financial policy, adopted by the authorities in the late 1990s, led to financial deepening and increased the share of savings allocated to investment.financial sector; financial repression; financial depth

The Implications of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine for the EU Energy Market and Businesses

This paper analyses the potential impact of the Ukraine–Russia war on the EU energy market and businesses. It explores the risks spilling from disruptions in energy supply from Russia, rising energy prices and the prospects for the EU, which remains to be highly dependent on Russia's energy supply, with the war serving as a catalyser for speeding up Europe's greening transition

The EU has successfully pursued a strategy of democracy promotion by technocratic means in Belarus

Belarus is often depicted as the ‘last dictatorship in Europe’ and is generally regarded as being more strongly oriented toward Russia rather than the EU and the West. Using extensive research in the country conducted between 2009 and 2013, Elena A. Korosteleva highlights that while on the outside it appears to be ‘business as usual’ in Belarus, the last five years have witnessed a significant change in public attitudes toward the EU and the growth of a more ‘European’ identity. Noting that this change in attitudes has occurred alongside the EU’s pursuit of a largely technocratic approach to engaging with the country, she argues that democracy promotion in Belarus’ case may work better when depoliticised and inculcated into the daily lives of individuals through norms, regulations and practices of international order

Maximising Seigniorage and Inflation Tax: The Case of Belarus

While most Central European countries, realising the inflationary potential of money creation, had by the mid-1990s switched to market instruments based monetary policy, Belarus continued to use money emission, so gaining seigniorage and inflation tax. The productivity of the inflation tax can be analysed by comparing the revenue actually raised from inflation tax with the revenue that could be raised if the quantity of money had risen at a constant rate. The present paper, based on Cagan’s (1956) seminal work ‘Monetary Dynamics of Hyperinflation’, analyses the effect of inflation on seigniorage revenue in Belarus and draws conclusions about the effectiveness of monetary policy in 1995-2002, and about the consequences of inflationary financing.

Which Institutions Encourage Entrepreneurs to Create Larger Firms?

We develop entrepreneurship and institutional theory to explain variation in different types of entrepreneurship across individuals and institutional contexts. Our framework generates hypotheses about the negative impact of higher levels of corruption, weaker property rights and especially intellectual property rights, and a larger state on entrepreneurs who plan to grow faster. We test these hypotheses using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys in 55 countries for 2001-2006, applying a multilevel estimation framework. We confirm our main hypotheses but we find no significant impact from intellectual property rights.entrepreneurship, institutions, corruption, property rights, government, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

Better Means More: Property Rights and High-Growth Aspiration Entrepreneurship

This paper contrasts the determinants of entrepreneurial entry and high-growth aspiration entrepreneurship. Using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys for 42 countries over the period 1998-2005, we analyse how institutional environment and entrepreneurial characteristics affect individual decisions to become entrepreneurs and aspirations to set up high-growth ventures. We find that institutions exert different effects on entrepreneurial entry and on the individual choice to launch high-growth aspiration projects. In particular, a strong property rights system is important for high-growth aspiration entrepreneurship, but has less pronounced effects for entrepreneurial entry. The availability of finance and the fiscal burden matter for both.entrepreneurship, high-growth aspiration entrepreneurship, start-ups, property rights

Economic policy in Belarus from official and oppositional perspectives

Taking the period from 1991 until 2000, the purpose of this chapter is to contrast official and oppositional approaches to economic policy in the Republic of Belarus. The types of policy we will be dealing with include fiscal, credit-monetary, investment and structural policy. The official position is represented by the policy of the Belarusian government. The alternative position is represented by five parties in opposition: the Party of Communists of Belarus, the Belarusian Social-Democratic Party ‘Hramada’, the Belarusian Popular Front, the United Civic Party and the Belarusian Republican Party

The Belarusian Case of Transition: Whither Financial Repression?

The present paper examines the financial development of Belarus over the past decade with a particular focus on 1996-2002, when the financial sector was restrained through pervasive government controls in the form of interest rate ceilings, directed credit and preferential loans schemes, high reserve requirements, multiple exchange rates and capital controls. Belarus is of particular interest, as, despite no economic restructuring, the growth has averaged seven per cent per annum since 1997. While explanations of this ‘miracle’ abound, no empirical work has been done on the role of the financial system, particularly on the effects of pervasive government intervention. It has been argued that monetary stimulation of investment activity through interest rate ceilings and directed credit and preferential loans revived growth. This paper investigates whether financial policy led to financial deepening and increased the share of savings to be allocated to investment.

Start-up financing:a comparative perspective

We investigate the determinants of start-up financing in 41 countries, using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys for 1998-20032. High quality of property rights increases both the total volume of finance and the use of external finance for the individual start-up. The size of the formal financial sector affects the start-up finance via enhancing the volume of self-finance. In addition, the use of external finance by start-ups correlates with the extent of financial restrictions in a country in a non-linear way. Supply of informal finance may to some extent substitute for the use of formal finance

Entrepreneurship in Russia

This paper presents an account of the environment faced by entrepreneurs in Russia. In section one we give a brief introduction to the country which is followed by the overview of a public policy on small and medium enterprises in the next section. The current state of SMEs and some particularities of the entrepreneurial environment are discussed in section three, whereas section four focuses on the prospects of internationalisation of Russian SMEs. In section five we draw some conclusions