WTO ACCESSION: WHAT’S IN IT FOR RUSSIA?

Prospects for Russia’s membership in the WTO now look better than any point since accession negotiations began almost a decade ago. Good progress with economic and legal reforms within Russia has left the country’s economy better prepared for membership. Nevertheless, the economy still suffers from various weaknesses including, but not limited to, pervasive subsidies for different sectors, lack of liberalization and foreign participation especially in the service sector, inefficiency in custom administration, lack of enforcement of intellectual property rights, etc. For all their sensitivity, the negotiations on the import tariff levels and access to the service sectors are the least of the problems. Much more difficult will be non-tariff barriers and the general trade-related legislative framework. Resolving the remaining weaknesses would be a complex process. However, given the importance of WTOrelated measures for the overall domestic structural reform, any delay in accession would be at least marginally negative for investor perceptions of country risk.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39981/3/wp595.pd

The Impact of Financial Reform on Private Savings in Bangladesh

Private savings, Financial reform, Bangladesh, Time series analysis

PRIVATE SAVINGS IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES: ARE THERE TERMS OF TRADE SHOCKS?

The paper examines the impact of terms of trade shocks on private savings in the transition economies after accounting for the effect of other determinants. Economic agents in the transition economies are subject to tight credit constraints which are more pronounced during bad state of nature. Thus, adverse shocks to commodity prices in the world market can force them to reduce savings by a larger amount than they would otherwise have. Empirical analysis using a dynamic panel model and data from twenty one transition economies confirm that most of the determinants of savings identified in the literature also apply to the transition economies. Favorable movements in both the permanent and transitory components of the terms of trade have a significant positive impact on private savings with transitory movements having a larger impact than the permanent component. This reflects the lack of access to foreign borrowing that many of the transition economies have faced during the last decade. Although the impact of terms of trade shocks are found to be asymmetric, the magnitude of the impact appears to be small. The results are robust for alternative estimators, determinants, and country groupings.transition, private savings, terms of trade

Do asymmetric terms of trade shocks affect private savings in a transition economy?

This paper examines whether terms of trade shocks have an asymmetric effect on private savings in transition economies. A simple three-period framework is developed to show that, in the presence of binding credit constraints in bad states of nature, savings rates can be sensitive to favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade. This result contrasts with the prediction of the conventional consumption-smoothing model. Empirical analysis with a dynamic panel model further confirms that while favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade have an asymmetric effect on private savings, the magnitude of the effect is relatively small. The results are robust for alternative estimators, determinants, and country groupings.transition, private savings, terms of trade

External Debt and Growth in Developing Countries: A Sensitivity and Causal Analysis

external debt, growth, sensitivity analysis, causality

Do asymmetric terms of trade shocks affect private savings in a transition economy?

This paper examines whether terms of trade shocks have an asymmetric effect on private savings in transition economies. A simple three-period framework is developed to show that, in the presence of binding credit constraints in bad states of nature, savings rates can be sensitive to favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade. This result contrasts with the prediction of the conventional consumption-smoothing model. Empirical analysis with a dynamic panel model further confirms that while favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade have an asymmetric effect on private savings, the magnitude of the effect is relatively small. The results are robust for alternative estimators, determinants, and country groupings.transition; private savings; terms of trade

Does Financial Openness Promote Economic Integration? Some Evidence from Europe and the CIS

economic integration, financial openness, gravity models, catching-up

A Global Lottery and a Global Premium Bond

lottery, development finance, Millennium Development Goals

What Determines Public Education Expenditures in a Transition Economy?

education, expenditure, transition, elasticity, Russia