In this paper we explore the issue of the measurement of productivity in the context of higher education. We suggest applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the productivity scores for universities of Belarus. This assessment will help to find out (a) if it possible to construct...

This study estimates the equivalence scale for Belarus, while directly accounting for household size economies of scale. For this purposes, the modication of methodology in Lancaster and Ray (1998) was used. The poverty levels for vulnerable social groups are estimated using the house holds...

Development of self-employment becomes increasingly important issue for the transitional economy of Belarus. However the role of pecuniary benefits in terms of moving people towards selfemployment is not explored, and neither is the question of whether the direction of its’ impact is different...

In this paper, the author distinguishes the main ideas of the theory of Optimal Currency Area (OCA). This work explains the main features, which help to understand the differences between an Optimum Currency Area and Currency Union. This paper also itemizes main benefits and costs for countries...

The paper addresses the problem of determining the order of integration of inflation and growth rates of monetary aggregates under the multiple structural breaks in dynamics of these variables. Discussing the existent approaches for unit root and structural breaks testing, we propose the...

This paper examines the determinants of births in Belarus in 1996-2007 by using detailed micro data from the Belarusian Household Budget Surveys (BHBS). The literature offered several explanations of the recent trends in fertility in Belarus and in other former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. It...

In the U.S. economy hours and productivity are negatively correlated, and volatility of hours is two times higher than volatility of productivity. In the standard one shock RBC model hours are positively correlated with productivity, and hours are two times less volatile than productivity. This...

This paper analyses the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic performance using the Belarusian industrial aggregated panel data over the 2002-2009 period. The paper didn’t reveal any general influence of FDI on the economic performance. However, a very diverse FDI impact at the...

The study deals with a specific form of financial repression peculiar to Belarus – a mechanism of directed loans. Under selective or directed credit programs, banks are required to allocate certain percentages of their asset portfolios for loans to priority sectors at subsidized loan rates of...

There is evidence in the literature that FDI impact on enterprises’ performance across three large sectors, i.e. primary, secondary and services, differs substantially. We suggest that these disparities may be due to two factors. First, the weak inter- and intra-sectoral links may prevent the...