Economic Transition and Elections in Poland

Poland's economic and political transition, one of the most successful transitions, has depended very heavily on the job creation in new firms to replace the jobs lost in the formerly state-owned enterprises. This uses evidence from both survey and aggregate data to analyze four Polish elections during the transition. These analyses indicate that these de novo firms, the individuals they employ, and the residents in the local areas where they exist become an important constituency supporting pro-reform political parties and constraining the actions of parties less sympathetic to the reforms. The creation of this political constituency helps explain how countries can successfully pursue both economic and political reforms.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39775/3/wp391.pd

Firm Creation and Economic Transitions

Virtually all industrial countries are experiencing some form of transformation in their economies, from the dramatic move from centrally planned to market economies in East-central Europe, to the rebuilding of the economies in the so-called Rust Belt of the USA, to the efforts by Asian countries to return to their recent high growth levels. The analysis builds on the work of Schumpeter, Hannan and Freeman, and Kornai to develop a picture of an economy as an evolutionary process in which the creation, survival and growth of firms is the key to continued growth. This entrepreneurial activity is vital to successful transformations at critical points when the existing enterprises are not well suited to market conditions - what Schumpeter refers to as creative destruction. This paper uses detailed data on the transitions in the Polish and Michigan economies to present evidence to support these propositions. Showing that the successful transformation of two economies with obvious historical differences both depended upon the creation of new firms rather than on the restructuring of existing firms shows that entrepreneurial activity is a universal necessity.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39624/3/wp238.pd

Democratic Institutions and Economic Reform: the Polish Case

Analysis of the economic transformation of the Polish economy and of the 1993 elections for Parliament suggest that it is possible to proceed with pro-market and democratic reforms simultaneously. As demonstrated by the Polish case, the key to this process is the rate at which new enterprises are created. These enterprises, not the privatization of existing ones, are responsible for the creation of a private economy. This evolving new economy based on firm creation and growth creates a pro-reform constituency in the regions where it is occurring. This constituency provides strong support for pro-reform parties. The Polish case also illustrates how electoral rules and their interaction with the evolution of pro-reform constituencies affect the representation of pro-reform interests. The Polish case offers important lessons about the reform process and about the way scholars conceptualize political-economic processes.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39626/3/wp240.pd

Firm Creation and Economic Transitions

Virtually all industrial countries are experiencing some form of transformation in their economies, from the dramatic move from centrally planned to market economies in East-central Europe, to the rebuilding of the economies in the so-called Rust Belt of the USA, to the efforts by Asian countries to return to their recent high growth levels. The analysis builds on the work of Schumpeter, Hannan and Freeman, and Kornai to develop a picture of an economy as an evolutionary process in which the creation, survival and growth of firms is the key to continued growth. This entrepreneurial activity is vital to successful transformations at critical points when the existing enterprises are not well suited to market conditions - what Schumpeter refers to as creative destruction. This paper uses detailed data on the transitions in the Polish and Michigan economies to present evidence to support these propositions. Showing that the successful transformation of two economies with obvious historical differences both depended upon the creation of new firms rather than on the restructuring of existing firms shows that entrepreneurial activity is a universal necessity.

Age-Related properties of the tumor vasculature in renal cell carcinoma

Little is known about the impact of vascular ageing on the angiogenic features of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a disease in which antiangiogenic therapy currently has a well established role. It is also rather surprising that this question has not been raised in a disease context where patients’ age may differ by several decades. We provide the first glimpse in to the related vasclar changes, including morphology and some of the molecular features.[...