Russia's Frangible Tendency to Rise: What Can Be Observed at Macro- and Meta-Level?

This paper is an extraction of some results achieved in a comprehensive study of Russia's transition in its regional as well as sectoral dimension. Thereby, the transition process between 1993 - 2000 has been approximated by aggregated developments of productivity, technical change, and technical efficiency which all have been calculated by a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The obtained results have been analyzed with respect to any institutional circumstances in a second analytical step. Based on that, in a third step, some political call for actions have been specified as well as addressed according to regional/federal responsibility. The study has shown a notable heterogeneity within the considered regional as well as sectoral transition paths. Occasionally, the individual trends even diverge and provide, however, a growing economic polarization among Russia's regions. Background of these trends are, above all, spatial divergent institutional conditions caused by various reform implementations and/or reform strictness. Hence, the crucial call for political action had to be addressed regionally. At federal level, just coordinating and flanking measures have been mentioned. Altogether it can be summarized: The necessary pre-conditions for a successful transition in Russia seem to be given. But there is apparently a need in some regions for an adequate individual adjustment as well as, sometimes, for a sustainable stimulus in order to trigger a change. Hence, the particular embodiment of the regional transition path, the political initiative, and, therefore, any success on Russia's way from a 'planned towards a market economy' are incumbent on the regions. Admittedly, those have to be aware of own potentials. The regions should develop their individual chances actively and, however, try to turn specialties into benefits. Since this will be successful, it can be a source of substantial growth at regional as well as at federal level.Russia, transition, productivity, efficiency, regional development, Political Economy, O47,

Subsistence Agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe: Determinants and Perspectives

Subsistence agriculture in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has only recently gained interest from agricultural economists. Their origin, their future and even their definition is still not well elaborated. This paper tries to throw light on the issue of subsistence farming in CEE. It first discusses the theoretical and empirical background of subsistence agriculture. This part is followed by a typology of subsistence farming as found in CEE. Analysis considers several hypotheses on the cause of subsistence agriculture, among them the structure of land ownership, market imperfections and lack of alternative income sources or low opportunity costs of labour respectively. Of all these hypotheses, only the latter can be proofed empirically, which is done by a nonlinear regression analysis. The paper concludes that this gives reason to argue that rather economic problems than specific problems related to the agricultural structure in CEE determine the degree of subsistence farming. Consequently, structural and social policies rather than agricultural policies like market intervention are to be considered.Subsistence agriculture, transition, Central and Eastern Europe, Food Security and Poverty,

A practical approach to offset permits in post Kyoto climate policy

International Carbon Offsets from developing countries and emerging economies such as permits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will potentially play an important role for cost containment in domestic greenhouse gas regulation schemes in industrialised countries. We analyse the potential role of offset permits assuming that major emitters such as the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand install domestic greenhouse gas regulation schemes to achieve the emissions reductions pledged in the Copenhagen Accord and seek cost containment. We estimate a potential demand for offset permits of 627 to 667 MtCO2e p.a. from industrialised countries. To describe the supply structure, we derive marginal abatement cost curves for developing countries and emerging economies. We find that developing countries and emerging economies can supply 627 to 667 MtCO2e p.a. at costs of approximately EUR 10 (in 2004 EUR), neglecting transaction costs and country specific risks. The highest potentials for the generation of carbon offsets are present in China, India and the rest of Asia. --emissions trading,offsets,CDM,marginal abatement costs,climate policy

Russia's transition process in the light of a rising economy: Economic trajectories in Russia's industry and agriculture

Over the recent years Russia has faced an astonishing economic growth, coinciding with the era of Vladimir Putin's presidentship. Accordingly, it is not surprising that commonly these rising economic trajectories are attributed to progress in terms of transition initiated and further triggered by Putin's government. This paper is trying to investigate empirically whether the current growth in Russia tends to be caused mainly by (1) success of transition or just by (2) favourable external circumstances such as rising prices for oil, gas, etc. Thus, analytically, progress in transition has been approximated by efficiency estimates, which are - from a theoretical point of view - expected to be rising in course of transition of a formerly planned economy towards a free market system. In order to capture potentially different trajectories of several sectors and regions industry and agriculture have been considered separately, each at regionally aggregated level over a period of 11 years. In general, little evidence of the anticipated rising trends could be found. Instead, notable ups, downs and divergences among regions and sectors were uncovered. According to this analysis, Russia's current growth rates cannot be attributed to general success of transition. Instead, besides reaping the benefits of favourable external circumstances at world markets, from an empirical point of view, scale effects and slightly rising productivity appear to be the main causes of the recent track record. Moreover, in the industry the trend is also triggered by technological progress, which may indicate the turnaround after a decade of decline and give a reason to believe in an initiation of a long-term growth process. Unfortunately, in agriculture little evidence for such a sustainable growth process was evident so far. In general, the inter-sectoral integration in Russia's economy seems to be still quite low.Russia ; transition progress ; sector/regional comparison ; TFP ; efficiency

Russia's agriculture: eight years in transition - convergence or divergence of regional efficiency

In this paper, we consider how Russian Agriculture has developed since the constitution of the Russian Federation. The analysis is based on Oblast level data of 75 territorial units during the period from 1993 to 1998 and is focusing on technical efficiency (TE), technological change, and (both aggregated as overall index) on Total Factor Productivity (TFP). Given that the initial natural conditions were approximately constant the consistence of political programs, market reforms and restructuring were essential determinants of regional developments of TE and TFP above or below the common trend. If this assumption is widely true an investigation of responsible circumstances for these divergences seems to be an important task in the actual regional-economic research. This paper should provide a step of such an analysis - discover common trends, make divergences visible and detect Oblasts characterised by diverging trends. The results have shown that the agricultural TE and the technological change varied dramatically among regions. Beyond it, we have found a growing gap of TE among regions and a relative homogeneous negative trend of technical change resulting, altogether, in a divergence of regional agricultural TFP. Because agriculture is for many regions the fundamental source of income this fact is alarming, especially when the local agriculture becomes noncompetitiveness in comparison with other regions, actually or in future. -- G E R M A N V E R S I O N: Gegenstand dieses Papiers ist die Entwicklung der russischen Landwirtschaft seit Gründung der Russischen Föderation. Die Analyse basiert auf regional aggregierten Daten von 75 Oblasts von 1993 bis 1998 und fokussiert auf die jeweilige technische Effizienz (TE), den technologischen Wandel und, als Aggregat, auf die totale Faktorproduktivität (TFP). Vorausgesetzt die regionalen natürlichen Bedingungen sind etwa gleich geblieben, dann sind die Konsistenz politischer Programme, marktwirtschaftliche Reformen und Restrukturierung die essentiellen Determinanten über- bzw. unterdurchschnittlicher Entwicklungen von TE und TFP. Wenn dies zutrifft, dann erscheint die Untersuchung der für die regionalen Divergenzen verantwortlichen Hintergründe als ein zentrales Ziel der aktuellen regional-ökonomischen Forschung. Dieses Papier soll hierzu einen Beitrag leisten allgemeine Trends offen legen, Divergenzen aufzeigen und Oblasts mit abweichenden Trends identifizieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen erheblich differierende Werte sowohl bei der landwirtschaftlichen TE als auch beim technischen Wandel zwischen den einzelnen Regionen. Darüber hinaus kann man eine wachsende Disparität der TE bei einem relativ einheitlich negativen technischen Wandel feststellen, was insgesamt in eine zunehmende Divergenz der regionalen landwirtschaftlichen TFP mündet. Da die Landwirtschaft für viele Regionen die elementare Einkommensquelle darstellt, scheint dieses Faktum als durchaus alarmierend; insbesondere dann, wenn die lokale Landwirtschaft im regionalen Vergleich droht nicht mehr wettbewerbsfähig zu sein oder zu werden.technical efficiency,rural areas,divergence,Russian Federation,agriculture,technische Effizienz,rurale Gebiete,Divergenz,Russland,Landwirtschaft

ERAWATCH Country Reports 2013: Germany

The Analytical Country Reports analyse and assess in a structured manner the evolution of the national policy research and innovation in the perspective of the wider EU strategy and goals, with a particular focus on the performance of the national research and innovation (R&I) system, their broader policy mix and governance. The 2013 edition of the Country Reports highlight national policy and system developments occurring since late 2012 and assess, through dedicated sections: -National progress in addressing Research and Innovation system challenges; -National progress in addressing the 5 ERA priorities; -The progress at Member State level towards achieving the Innovation Union; -The status and relevant features of Regional and/or National Research and Innovation Strategies on Smart Specialisation (RIS3); -As far relevant, country Specific Research and Innovation (R&I) Recommendations. Detailed annexes in tabular form provide access to country information in a concise and synthetic manner. The reports were originally produced in December 2013, focusing on policy developments occurring over the preceding twelve months.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Germany

This analytical country report is one of a series of annual ERAWATCH reports produced for EU Member States and Countries Associated to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Union (FP7). The main objective of the ERAWATCH Annual Country Reports is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The Country Report 2012 builds on and updates the 2011 edition. The report identifies the structural challenges of the national research and innovation system and assesses the match between the national priorities and the structural challenges, highlighting the latest developments, their dynamics and impact in the overall national context. They further analyse and assess the ability of the policy mix in place to consistently and efficiently tackle these challenges. These reports were originally produced in December 2012, focusing on policy developments over the previous twelve months. The reports were produced by independent experts under direct contract with IPTS. The analytical framework and the structure of the reports have been developed by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the Joint Research Centre (JRC-IPTS) and Directorate General for Research and Innovation with contributions from external experts.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

FlexibleSUSY -- A spectrum generator generator for supersymmetric models

We introduce FlexibleSUSY, a Mathematica and C++ package, which generates a fast, precise C++ spectrum generator for any SUSY model specified by the user. The generated code is designed with both speed and modularity in mind, making it easy to adapt and extend with new features. The model is specified by supplying the superpotential, gauge structure and particle content in a SARAH model file; specific boundary conditions e.g. at the GUT, weak or intermediate scales are defined in a separate FlexibleSUSY model file. From these model files, FlexibleSUSY generates C++ code for self-energies, tadpole corrections, renormalization group equations (RGEs) and electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) conditions and combines them with numerical routines for solving the RGEs and EWSB conditions simultaneously. The resulting spectrum generator is then able to solve for the spectrum of the model, including loop-corrected pole masses, consistent with user specified boundary conditions. The modular structure of the generated code allows for individual components to be replaced with an alternative if available. FlexibleSUSY has been carefully designed to grow as alternative solvers and calculators are added. Predefined models include the MSSM, NMSSM, E$_6$SSM, USSM, R-symmetric models and models with right-handed neutrinos.Comment: 56 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables; v3: correcting typos, matches version accepted for publication by CP