DECOMPOSING INCOME DIFFERENTIALS BETWEEN ROMA AND NON-ROMA IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE

The paper decomposes average income differentials between Roma and non-Roma in South East Europe into the component that can be explained by group differences in income-related characteristics (characteristics effect), and the component which is due to differing returns to these characteristics (coefficients or discrimination effect). The decomposition analysis is based on Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) and uses three weighting matrices, reflecting the different assumptions about income structures that would prevail in the absence of discrimination. Heckman (1979) estimators control for selectivity bias. Using microdata from the 2004 UNDP household survey on Roma minorities, the paper finds that a large share of the average income differential between Roma and non-Roma is explained by human capital differences. Nevertheless, significant labour market discrimination is found in Kosovo for all weight specifications, and in Bulgaria and Serbia for two weight specifications.Labour market discrimination, income differential decomposition, Heckman selection model, Roma, Europe

The economics of the 'European Neighbourhood Policy': An initial assessment

This paper describes the general framework of the EU’s emerging relationship with its new neighbours and investigates the potential economic impact of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), both for the EU itself and for its neighbours. In particular, it seeks to develop an answer to the question of whether the ENP is sufficiently attractive so as to induce the governments in neighbourhood countries to adopt (or accelerate the adoption of) the types of economic and governance reforms that were implemented in the new member states during their accession processes. Although the specifics of the ENP are still being developed, the lack of incentives as regards to unclear accession to the EU is identified as the main weakness of the ENP. Economically, the ENP seeks to ease trade restrictions through the implementation of legislative approximation and convergence with EU standards, before accessing the EU’s single market can become a reality. Positively though, is that the access to the single market could improve significantly under the ENP. As experienced by the Central European states, FDI is instrumental to transform the economies of the Western CIS and the Caucasus. The ENP can be a supportive framework for improving investor confidence. Likewise, the new European Neighbourhood Instrument can add more coherence in technical assistance, and provide more financial support for creating capacities for trade infrastructures and institutional and private sector development. Finally, measures to promote increased labour migration between the new neighbours and the enlarged EU may be worth to put on the agenda for the future development and impact of the ENP.European Neighbourhood Policy, European integration, foreign direct investment, transition economies

Evidence of Returns to Education Among Roma in Central and Eastern Europe and Their Policy Implications

In this paper we analyze specific educational issues faced by Roma households using data from the UNDP/ILO survey conducted in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia in 2001. Roma situation is characterized by poverty, low educational achievements, and consequently limited employment opportunities. We believe that the core of this trap is insufficient education, nonpreparedness for entry into the labormarket of amarket economy. This is demonstrated by the existence of vital returns to education estimated for Roma households throughout the region. The patterns are similar over the whole region and hence the need for a systematic and common education policy of Roma is both necessary and beneficial.returns to education, Roma minority, poverty, labour market

Evidence of returns to education among Roma in Central and Eastern Europe and their policy implications

households using data from the undp/ilo survey conducted i

On labour market discrimination against Roma in South East Europe

This paper directs interest on country-specific labour market discrimination Roma may suffer in South East Europe. The study lies in the tradition of statistical Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis. We use microdata from UNDP's 2004 survey of Roma minorities, and apply a Bayesian approach, proposed by Keith and LeSage (2004), for the decomposition analysis of wage differentials. This approach is based on a robust Bayesian heteroscedastic linear regression model in conjunction with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation. The results obtained indicate the presence of labour market discrimination in Albania and Kosovo, but point to its absence in Bulgaria, Croatia, and Serbia

Decomposing Income Differentials Between Roma and Non-Roma in South East Europe

The paper decomposes average income differentials between Roma and non-Roma in South East Europe into the component that can be explained by group differences in income-related characteristics (characteristics effect), and the component which is due to differing returns to these characteristics (coefficients or discrimination effect). The decomposition analysis is based on Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) and uses three weighting matrices, reflecting the different assumptions about income structures that would prevail in the absence of discrimination. Heckman (1979) estimators control for selectivity bias. Using microdata from the 2004 UNDP household survey on Roma minorities, the paper finds that a large share of the average income differential between Roma and non-Roma is explained by human capital differences. Nevertheless, significant labour market discrimination is found in Kosovo for all weight specifications and in Bulgaria and Serbia for two weight specifications. (author's abstract

Использование растеризации методом Брезенхэма для метода пересечений при оптическом распознавании печатных символов

Поиск решения задачи оптического распознавания символов актуален при разработке алгоритмов индексации и анализа оцифрованных документов. Предложен алгоритм для оптического распознавания печатных и рукописных символов на основе метода пересечения. Для представления отрезков, пересекающих изображение символа, было предложено использовать алгоритм растеризации Брезенхэма, который отличается своей простотой в реализации и отсутствием необходимости использовать вычисления с плавающей точкой. Метод был апробирован на наборе изображений печатных символов латинского алфавита с пиксельным шумом, извлеченных из реальных отсканированных документов. В результате работы алгоритма было верно распознано 91 % символов