This paper re-examines the relation between regional integration and trade by using the framework suggested by Yeats [1998] to analyze the effects of European integration. We identify the industries that experienced the largest increases in regional trade orientation during three phases of...

This paper explores the determinants of innovative capability in a sample of multinational company (MNC) subsidiaries in four transition economies: Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. It finds that capability in product and process technology appears to be determined by a different set of...

The focus of the economic policy debate in most of Europe’s transition economies has shifted from stabilization and recovery to growth and convergence during the last few years. This paper summarizes some of the growth experiences of East Asia, and discusses some lessons for Europe’s...

This paper analyzes the evolution of industrial competitiveness in Sweden and Finland in a long-term perspective. The first part looks at the foundations for industrial take-off in Sweden, with some focus on the development of institutions for the creation and dissemination of the skills and...

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have been important for Vietnam’s rapid economic development. However, the context in which SMEs operate are rapidly changing with the current internationalisation of the Vietnamese economy. The question posed in this paper is “How are Vietnam’s...

Lao PDR has been relatively successful in raising incomes and reducing poverty since the early 1990s. However, the gains in terms of poverty reduction are unevenly distributed across regions and population groups. This paper uses a detailed household survey data set to examine the determinants...

This paper suggests that the use of investment incentives focusing exclusively on foreign firms, although motivated in some cases from a theoretical point of view, is generally not an efficient way to raise national welfare. The main reason is that the strongest theoretical motive for financial...

A substantial literature has grown up around the issue of how inward direct investment affects host countries. On almost every aspect of this question, there seems to be a wide range of empirical results in academic literature, and little sign of convergence. It is our purpose here to try to...

Features of institutional tracking play a key role in shaping an individualfs access to and advancement through higher education in Japan. This paper brings institutional tracking features to the foreground and examines the process by which individuals advance from middle school to high school,...

Wages in domestically- owned Indonesian manufacturing plants taken over by foreign firms increased sharply between the year before takeover and two years after takeover, relative to plants remaining in domestic ownership. Blue- collar wage levels in these plants had been less than 10 per cent...