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 paper examines the inflation experience of the EU new member states (NMS) since 2000, with particular focus on the three Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Apart from being a natural focus of interest for residents of these countries it appears that their recent inflation...

This report analyzes concentration in the grocery retail market in the three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The markets (including some comparator Eastern and Western European markets) are analyzed using two standard measures: the Herfindahl Hirschman Index and the four firm...

Global energy demand continues to grow. Crude oil production is stagnating, coal's production cost is rising fast on the back of carbon pricing, electricity generating capacity is getting old and nuclear power has its own environmental and political issues. In addition there is the concern about...