This paper examines the effect of campaign contributions on firm performance in Latvia, using a quasi-experiment provided by the 2002 elections. An unanticipated result of the election was that the ‘Latvian Way’, one of the most influential parties, failed to be reelected and was replaced by...

This paper examines the effect of political connections on firm performance. It draws on the universe of all registered firms in Latvia to construct a unique dataset of firms connected to politicians in 1996 to 2005. This paper shows that the effects of connections to politicians vary depending...

This study attempts to estimate the economic burden of tobacco smoking in Russia and hence to identify in money terms the economic benefits of smoking reduction in Russia.

This paper uses empirical evidence from several sources to shed light on patterns of mobility of Latvian labour force during the transition period as well as in the years to come. Updated inter-regional migration rates show that Latvian population is relatively mobile compared to some other...

When judged either by educational attainment of adult population or by secondary and tertiary enrollment rates, by 2002 Albania compared very unfavorably to most European countries, including its neighbors. This study examines the determinants of secondary enrollment applying unobserved family...

This paper examines human capital gap between titular ethnicities and Russianspeaking minorities, which has emerged in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during the transition and remains significant after controlling for parental education. For recent cohorts, unexplained gap is declining in...