PREDNOSTI NE UZIMANJA U OBZIR MMF

Tranzicija u Istočnoj Europi i bivšem Sovjetskom Savezu započela je s jasnom slikom stvarne situacije bez potpuno razrađene sheme novog ekonomskog sustava, i bez prikladnih ekonomskih i društvenih aranžmana na pravom mjestu. Umjesto toga postojalo je eksplicitno i implicitno vjerovanje da će uklanjanje izopačenih netržišnih institucija, uspostavljanje privatnog vlasništva i laissez-faire mehanizama slobodnog tržišta odmah pretvoriti socijalističke zemlje u države dobrobiti. Iluzije koje su poduprli MMF, druge financijske institucije i brojni zapadni savjetnici, pokazale su se iluzijama. Slovenija se često uzima kao uspješan primjer tranzicije. Ekonomska događanja uprvoj dekadi postojanja zemlje su uspješna i društveni troškovi tranzicije su prilično niski. Razloge za to treba tražiti u dva glavna pravca: početni uvjeti i uzorci tranzicije. Slovenija je zapravo posjedovala daleko najbolje početne uvjete. Mnoge bitnosti tržišne ekonomije stvorene su prije 1989; poduzeća su bila autonomna, osnovne tržišne institucije su postojale i Vlada je koristila standardna sredstva. Ne manje važna je činjenica da si je Slovenija mogla priuštiti primjenu tranzicije oprezno bez pragmatizma i averzije prema riziku prilikom odbijanja pokroviteljstva MMF-a i stranih savjetnika

The Revenue Side of a Universal Basic Income in the EU and Euro Area

This paper tries to answer the question of whether universal basic income on the European level is a realistic option or an illusion. As UBI implies a much larger EU budget and a redistribution of collected budget revenues, the chance of introducing UBI depends on the required redistribution – the larger the redistribution, the lower the chance. The chance is indirectly assessed by an exercise in which 50 percent of actual tax revenues generated by indirect taxes of member states is collected at the center and distributed equally to all citizens. Though the net costs to the rich are relatively modest, the results indicate that the idea of introducing UBI on the European level is an illusion

The Perspective of Pension System Reforms in the New Member States

Because of growing awareness of financial needs for public pensions, attention has been focused on privatisation of the pension systems. While the privatisation of pension funds can encourage development of capital markets in New Member States, equity investment in transition economies is even more volatile than in the "old" capitalist countries. Privatised pension system coincides with investment risks, higher administrative costs, and inability of private markets to provide retirees with affordable, indexed and certain annuities. Namely, private sector may not provide enough investment projects to efficiently absorb mandated pension savings and the expected pension income is subject to a number of risks: poor and volatile investment returns, longevity, and inflation eroding the purchasing power of pensions. Indeed, the PAYG system appears to be the only viable system to perform well in terms of risk and volatility of returns.pension funds, pay-as-you-go, financial burden, cyclicality, ageing of population