Economic efficiency is probably the most significant objective of both privatisation and economic liberalisation. This case study of Israel's bank privatisation programme focuses on the political economy of the process. It deals with an unusual coalition of political players consisting of...

Before the 1980s, Vietnam was modelled as a centrally-planned economy (CPE) along the same lines as the Soviet economy. During the 1980-88 period a kind of 'modified' planned economy (MPE) developed in which some partial reforms were effected within the CPE framework. These reforms and Vietnam's...

Privatisation has been generally viewed as a cornerstone of transition to a capitalist market economy in the longer run. The reasons for Poland's stronger resistance to privatisation than that of other Central and Eastern European countries are discussed. Nevertheless, Poland is widely regarded...

The current debate on European economic policy is quite original and with uncertain outcomes. The economic crisis started in 2008 feeds a political and academic debate not so deeply developed since the great crisis of the ‘30s. More Euro or less Euro? More market or less market? More State...

Five actions for growth and employment, in a context of policy against "expansionary austerity". Economic crisis in Italy cannot wait for political uncertainty. We need urgently some interventions to tackle with the need to contrast the double-dip in real economy, and support growth and...

The way forward for Italy, within a Europe that has to change. A Europe that is too economics-minded and not politically-minded enough, where growth and employment are stifled by tight budgets. Yet another path is possible, if we still keep the single currency but if we change regulations and...

The present work examines bank lending behaviour in continental Europe. An empirical analysis is performed using bank-level panel data for fiscal years 1990-1995 to investigate the existence of a bank lending and balance sheet channel in Europe. The results reveal that monetary policy in...