This paper examines how competition influences the bank lending channel in the euro area countries. Using a large panel of banks from 12 euro area countries for the period 2002–2010 we analyze the reaction of loan supply to monetary policy actions depending on the degree of bank competition....

Why are some business lobbies less benign in their external effects than others? In The rise and decline of nations (New Haven: Yale University Press, <CitationRef CitationID="CR44">1982</CitationRef>), Mancur Olson proposed that less-encompassing groups—i.e., those whose constituents collectively represent a relatively narrow range of...</citationref>

Enterprises in post-socialist and transition economies often participate in providing infrastructure and social services to the surrounding community which in the Russian legal setting should be local authorities’ responsibility. We propose that this bundling of social and infrastructure goods...

This article uses annual data for 1992-2005 to examine income dispersion and convergence across 76 Russian regions. Wide disparities in income levels have emerged during the transition period. Dispersion has increased most among the initially better-off regions, whereas for the initially poorer...