The paper examines the effects of measurement error on a well-known causality-testing procedure, that due to Pierce and Haugh. This is shown to be extremely sensitive to small random variations, which may induce the appearance of, as well as obscure, causality patterns, through causing...

The transition from a planned economy to a market economy involves a complex process of institutional, structural, and behavioral change. This article develops an index of economic liberalization and analyzes its interaction with growth and inflation, using data from twenty-six transition...

In this paper, we consider the reform process in those Central and East European countries that have made the decision to move from a more-or a less-planned socialist system to a private market economy, one in which private ownership predominates and most resources are allocated through markets....

Despite massive oil rent incomes since the early 1970s, the economic performance of oil-exporting countries-with notable exceptions-is poor. While there is extensive literature on the management of oil resources, analysis of the underlying political determinants of this poor performance is more...

Next to the decollectivization of agriculture, the most striking economic transformation in China since 1978 has been the rapid growth of rural nonstate industry. Firms in this sector (referred to as TVPs) are owned by a hierarchy of local government units below the county level: towns,...

The authors try to answer important questions. How important is the phasing of political and economic liberalization and the active (versus passive) role of the state in reform? What lessons can be learned about comprehensive top-down reform as opposed to experimental bottom-up reforms; fast...