From immigrants to (non-)citizens: Political economy of naturalizations in Latvia

Latvia enjoys the dubious distinction of having the highest population share of ethnic minorities and foreign-born residents in the European Union. In addition there exists a peculiar Latvian “institution”, a category of resident known as “non-citizen”, originating from the Soviet era migration flows. This “non-citizen” status has a number of serious disadvantages relative to citizen status. It is, therefore, of interest why a significant number of “non-citizen” opt to keep this status, although they have the opportunity to obtain full citizenship, and why others choose to become citizen. Using data from a representative 2007 survey of 624 former and current non-citizens in a multinomial probit model reveals characteristics of those who want to remain non-citizen, and of those who have obtained citizen status, are in the process of obtaining it or plan to do so in the future. Proficiency level of the state language (Latvian) is the single most significant correlate of the willingness to obtain citizenship. Significant influence also accrues to age, gender, education, emigration intentions and municipality level factors – the unemployment rate and the share of non-citizensImmigrants, non-citizens, naturalization, integration, Latvia, political economy.

Kosovo - Winning Its Independence but Losing Its People? Recent Evidence on Emigration Intentions

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008, but substantial proportions of its population are expressing their lack of confidence by preparing to emigrate. In this paper we present evidence from a customized post-independence survey (1367 face-to face interviews) on emigration intentions in Kosovo, carried out in June 2008. 30 % of the Albanian-speaking-majority respondents have taken concrete steps to move abroad, and emigration intentions have again risen to their pre-independence peak. Strikingly, it is the better educated and those with higher incomes that are more likely to exit. Ethnic Serbs (the largest minority group) are less likely to emigrate than Kosovo’s ethnic majority.Kosovo, emigration intentions, brain-drain, determinants of emigration decision, ethnic minorities

Inflation in Latvia: how real is it?

This paper applies and extends the Scandinavian Model of Inflation for analysing determinants of inflation in Latvia. In recent years high inflation has been a persistent problem for advocates of Latvian participation in the euro collaboration. However, by allowing for transitional effects and separating the impact of nominal and real factors to inflation, where real factors are related to the structural shifts at the heart of transition economies, the recent inflation history becomes more understandable. The equilibrium effects accompanying real factors are shown to be the key component of overall inflation over the last 12 years, keeping non-structural inflation below the Maastricht criteria for most of the period. The real contribution to inflation provides Latvia with better prospects for future growth and higher standards of living, and should hence be less worrisome than the nominal contribution. Still, when it comes to compliance with the Maastricht criteria, no distinction is made between the two, complicating convergence for transition economie

From immigrants to (non-)citizens: political economy of naturalisations in Latvia

© 2012, Ivļevs and King; licensee Springer. We study the determinants of the willingness to acquire citizenship of Latvia by ‘non-citizens’ – the former Soviet migrants and their descendants born on the territory of Latvia. The country of Latvia serves as an instructive laboratory for the analysis of naturalisations: due to the centrally planned nature of its 1945–1991 immigration flows, we can exclude the possibility that migrants came with an intention to acquire host country citizenship. Using data from a 2007 survey of 624 former and current ‘non-citizens’, we find that the elderly, males, single, and those with poor knowledge of the State language are less willing to naturalise. Prospective emigrants are more likely to have naturalised recently in preparation for partaking in the wider EU labour market - a right that citizenship of EU member Latvia conveys. Instrumental variable analysis suggests that low level of education is an obstacle for acquiring citizenship, while higher unemployment rate and lower share of non-citizens at a respondent’s place of residence contributes to early naturalisations. JEL codes: F22, J15, J6

Balassa-Samuelson: still haven't found what we're looking for?

Despite its strong theoretical position when it comes to explaining inflation in transition economies, the empirical merits of the Balassa-Samuelson (B-S) effect are weak. This paper points to three theory-based contributing factors to these weak findings and offers an alternative approach. First, the short-term focus makes B-S prone to underestimating the magnitude of the productivity growth differential. Second, the conventional demand side CPI based sectoral composition reduces the extent to which the productivity growth differential is passed through to inflation. Third, by ignoring the dependence between the two main B-S components, a second downward bias to the productivity growth pass through comes about. The key to our proposed alternative centres around an endogenous relation between the productivity growth differential and sector sizes. The long-run supply-side approach allows us to capture inflation drivers that conventional B-S fails to incorporate. The paper provides a blueprint for future empirical analysi

When Balassa-Samuelson comes to Maastricht: debt-sustainability, growth and transition

A dynamic stability approach is applied to show how the debt-servicing ability of transition/developing economies exceeds that of mature market economies. At the core of this debt-servicing advantage lies not only relatively higher growth but more importantly the productivity- and efficiency gains released by the re-allocation and restructuring activities originating in the developing economies’ unbalanced sectoral growth. First, the dynamic stability approach is extended to allow for two sectors of production, allowing both growth and sectoral composition to matter for stability and the debt-to-GDP ratio. Second, sector sizes are endogenized to depend on the productivity growth difference. The model shows how the equilibrium debt-to-GDP ratio depends on both an economy’s existing industrial structure as well as on its structural flexibility and how it varies along a country’s transition trajectory. All things considered, how much debt relative to GDP a country can (or should) sustain is highly context specific and depends on the prevailing economic structure, composition of growth, structural flexibility, and the prevailing incentives for restructuring. Hence this paper delivers a cautionary note toward the one-size-fits-all approach to debt sustainabilit

Starpdisciplinaritāte sociālajās zinātnēs: vai tā sniedz atbildes uz mūsdienu izaicinājumiem augstākajā izglītībā un pētniecībā?

Eiropas Komisijas pārstāvniecība Latvijā, Latvijas Universitāt

Does emigration reduce corruption?

© 2017, The Author(s). We study the effects of emigration on bribery experience and attitudes towards corruption in the migrants’ countries of origin. Using data from the Gallup Balkan Monitor survey and instrumental variable analysis, we find that having relatives abroad reduces the likelihood of bribing public officials, renders bribe-taking behavior by public officials less acceptable, and reduces the likelihood of being asked for bribes by public officials. Receiving monetary remittances does not change the beneficial effects regarding bribe paying and attitudes toward corruption; however, remittances counteract the beneficial effect on bribe solicitations by public officials. Overall, our findings support the conjecture that migration contributes to the transfer of norms and practices from destination to source countries

When Balassa-Samuelson comes to Maastricht: debt-sustainability, growth and transition

A dynamic stability approach is applied to show how the debt-servicing ability of transition/developing economies exceeds that of mature market economies. At the core of this debt-servicing advantage lies not only relatively higher growth but more importantly the productivity- and efficiency gains released by the re-allocation and restructuring activities originating in the developing economies’ unbalanced sectoral growth. First, the dynamic stability approach is extended to allow for two sectors of production, allowing both growth and sectoral composition to matter for stability and the debt-to-GDP ratio. Second, sector sizes are endogenized to depend on the productivity growth difference. The model shows how the equilibrium debt-to-GDP ratio depends on both an economy’s existing industrial structure as well as on its structural flexibility and how it varies along a country’s transition trajectory. All things considered, how much debt relative to GDP a country can (or should) sustain is highly context specific and depends on the prevailing economic structure, composition of growth, structural flexibility, and the prevailing incentives for restructuring. Hence this paper delivers a cautionary note toward the one-size-fits-all approach to debt sustainabilit