To explore the mixed economic results and huge distributional changes experienced by post-Soviet economies, I set up a series of theoretical and numerical simulation models using an approach based upon heterogeneous firms, where 'reform' means closure of inefficient capacity. In the presence of...

Unlike internal ('functional') forms of flexibility of labour, external ('numerical') forms of flexibility (i.e. high shares of people on temporary contract or a high turnover of personnel) yield substantial savings on a firm's wage bill. Savings on wage bills lead to higher job growth, but do...

This paper provides evidence of the evolution of industrial policy in European countries through a detailed analysis of state aid data. We show the emergence of a new phase of industrial policy in the years 2000-2004. The two previous phases were respectively an 'interventionist' phase, whereby...

It has been argued in the literature that growth accounting may be undertaken by directly differentiating the national income and product accounts identity where total income equals labour's total compensation and total profits. This paper shows that this is simply an exercise in the...

Rigorous approaches to aggregation indicate that aggregate production functions do not exist except in unlikely special cases. This paper considers the awkward implications for growth economics. It provides a conventional defence of growth theory in terms of 'parables' and then considers how...

Privatisation is a fundamental issue for both 'developed' and 'less developed' countries. Many see it as a requirement for access to a globalised economy, and furthermore imply that countries have no room for manoeuvre when it comes to ensuring that privatisation takes place. However, we would...

Public investment constitutes one of the main instruments of regional policies. The existence of a direct link between infrastructure and regional income per capita is usually accepted. Literature also describes a positive effect of public investment on private capital accumulation. This paper...

What is the best corporate governance system? Is the Germanic corporate governance system the best? The Japanese? The Anglo-Saxon? This article reviews some of the relevant literature for answering this question. Particular attention is devoted to corporate governance problems in developing...

Corporate governance has long been a concern for industrial economists but not typically a centrepiece of policy. One reason is that policy design has been based on a market-orientated approach to the theory and impact of the firm. In contrast, this paper is rooted in a strategic decision-making...

This paper argues that the process of financing development in India increased the fragility of the financial market. Consequently, the need arose for the government to implement policies that would reduce that fragility, and also to introduce strong enforceable bankruptcy laws, in order to...