The new individual firmers face the necessity to decide on how much of their assets should be allocated to the individual firm, i.e. what should be the size and scale of operation. Starting from the Jovanovic's (1982) learning model we develop a theory an implication of which is that individual...

In this paper we investigate to what extent firm investment in transition countries is sensitive to internal finance. We use accounts data of over 4000 companies in four countries at different stages of transition. We find that firms in Bulgaria and Romania are less sensitive to internal...

This study integrates theoretical and empirical models to facilitate understanding of human obesity and the factors contributing to rising obesity in Russia during the transition from a planned to a market economy. Recent individual level data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for...

A conceptual framework for analyzing the credit rationing and the link between credit access and profitability is developed. The empirical analysis using data from manufacturing firms in Bulgaria, provides direct estimates of credit rationing and its impact on profitability in transition...

We investigate the food security situation of Slovak households in terms of both access to food and quality of the diet consumed by estimating food demand system and diet diversity demand models using household budget survey data over the period 2004 - 2010. In most samples demand for meat and...

This paper studies the political economy of relief aid allocation using empirical evidence from relief programs after a major cyclone (Gafilo) hit Madagascar in March 2004. Relief was provided by the Government of Madagascar as well as local and international aid agencies. Aid allocation was...

The 2003 refirm of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) under Commissioner Fischler was the most radical in the history of the CAP. This paper analyzes the causes and constraints of the refirm. The paper argues that an unusual combination of pro-refirm factors came together in...

There is no consensus about how globalization -trade and foreign investments ?affects poverty reduction. Using household survey data, this study contributes to the empirical literature on globalization and poverty by analyzing the household-level implications of increased foreign investments and...

Consumers have increasing demands for product standards. This has important implications for development. This paper develops a firmal theory of the process of the introduction of high product standards in developing countries. The model endogenizes the introduction of high standards. Initial...

Only a few years ago the widely shared view was that low food prices were a curse to developing countries and the poor. The dramatic increase of food prices in 2006-2008 appears to have fundamentally altered this view. The vast majority of analyses and reports in 2008 and 2009 state that high...