Education scholars and human geographers have extensively studied spatial disparities in access to secondary education, both in developing countries and in advanced economies. However, very few studies have analysed access to specific types of secondary education, particularly programs oriented...

This chapter departs by analysis of the labor market situation of minorities over the period of 2002-2009. The unexplained employment and earnings gaps between Latvians and non-Latvians declined during the growth period of 2002-2007 but increased again in the recession years 2008-2009....

This chapter examines the substantial outflows of population from Latvia since 2000, which has major implications for the demography and development of Latvia as well as its social security system. Different statistical sources are described and compared. The chapter examines the characteristics...

The Baltic countries, which experienced intensive outflow of labor during the first five years after joining the EU provide an interesting case also for a study of migration response to economic shocks. The behavior of the Baltic migrants was different from that of their counterparts from other...

In recent years, Latvia has established itself as one of the top two countries with the most intensive emigration among EU/EFTA member states. This chapter starts by describing the demographic context and the scale of emigration post-2000, followed by a brief history of the main population flows...

Emigrant survey data confirm a substantial university diploma drain from Latvia to various EU/EFTA destinations during 2000-2014. The share of tertiary-educated among emigrants further increased during their stay in the host countries, reaching, by 2014, 45 %. The share of university graduates...

Latvia faces significant challenges in terms of both income inequality and inequality of opportunity. This paper examines to what extent these inequalities can be reduced by recent reforms, both those addressing the country-specific recommendations (CSR) by the EC and others, as well as those...

This paper analyzes determinants of earnings of return migrants using very rich information on jobs and earnings in Latvia, as well as the foreign experience of more than 1000 returnees surveyed in 2016. After controlling for personal characteristics and hours worked, we find significant and...

During 2006 – 2017, Latvia applied a rather generous accelerated depreciation (AD) policy to stimulate firm investment. The AD policy included: (1) the general AD scheme, (2) incentives to acquire new technological equipment, and (3) Investment incentives in the specially assisted areas. This...

In Latvia, three sizeable groups of the working-age population – ethnic minorities, residents of the Latgale region, and the low-educated – feature substantially lower employment rates than those not belonging to these groups. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the corresponding...