Housing and labor market distortions in Poland : linkages and policy implications

Poland's housing and macroeconomic policies have restricted investments in housing and urban infrastructure to a level well below that of other European countries. This has resulted in a shortage of housing typified by 15 to 20 year waits for government sponsored housing. Shortages of this magnitude are likely to cause distortions with impacts on patterns of savings and consumption, the price level, and on the functioning of labor markets. This paper focuses particularly on how housing market distortions are transmitted to labor markets, with impacts on rates of migration, relative wage levels among different regions, and, by implication, on the productivity of the Polish work force. The basic thesis of the paper is that if housing markets are prevented from reaching their competitive equilibrium that labor markets will similarly be prevented. Evidence is examined on the extent of housing and labor market disequilibria, and estimates econometric models that relate internal migration and relative wages to alternative measures of housing market disequilibria. From these analyses it is concluded that labor markets are in fact distorted by housing market distortions, with potentially major macroeconomic costs.Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Housing&Human Habitats,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Urban Housing

The Changing Economy of the Spiritual Marketplace in the United States

Distinguished Lecture of the Institute and Society for Advanced Study given on September 24, 2000

Gustavus Vasa Fox of the Union Navy: A Biography

The Union’s Naval Command The recent string of books on the Union and Confederate navies demonstrates a resurgence of interest in this periodically neglected area of study. Most of these books, particularly Craig Symonds\u27s Lincoln and His Admirals (2008), highlight the importance o...

Religion/Religions in the United States: Changing Perspectives and Prospects

Symposium: Religious Liberty at the Dawn of a New Millennium held at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington on April 9, 1999

Religion/Religions in the United States: Changing Perspectives and Prospects

Symposium: Religious Liberty at the Dawn of a New Millennium held at Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington on April 9, 1999

Celebrating and Sacralizing Violence: Testimonies Concerning Ann Lee and the Early Shakers

In what follows it is my intention to identify briefly the religious claims of the Shakers, formally the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, to sketch some aspects of the early history of the community, and to describe the ways in which Ann Lee and her followers, also called Believers, were subjected to violence. Then I will examine the ways that the Shakers featured, utilized, and exploited the tales of violence against Lee and the early Believers—celebrating and sacralizing that violence for their own religious ends