In the early 1990s the Polish economy was opened up to global forces, increasing competitive pressure, raising standards, and inducing an inflow of foreign products and investment. This paper studies the impact on the dairy sector in Poland. We combine statistical data with evidence from...

Exchange rates were heavily distorted under the central planning system in Central and Eastern Europe and are still adjusting in the transition process. The use of nominal exchange rates introduces a bias for international price comparisons and in calculations based on them. We present various...

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model of efficiency changes during transition and uses a unique set of representative farm survey data to assess efficiency changes during transition. We find that reforms have a...

The paper provides an explanation for the wide variation in agricultural labour adjustments during transition. In particular, we analyse how various factors including initial conditions, price liberalisation, subsidy cuts, and institutional reforms affecting ownership of assets and the...

The governance of food markets is a crucial element for efficiency and distributional effects. In this paper, we use a conceptual model to show that this governance itself is endogenous in an environment of weak contract enforcement and imperfect markets, and importantly depends on the value in...

This article shows that credit market imperfections have important implications for the distribution of policy rents. In a model with land as fixed factor and credit market imperfections, when an area payment is given, land rents go up by more than the subsidy. On aggregate farms may lose from...

The relationship between price uncertainty and specific investment is examined in a dynamic model that integrates the theories of real options and investment holdup. Because of weak contract enforcement, bilateral firms cannot use a contract to govern their bilateral investment and exchange...

This paper analyzes how imperfections of property rights affect allocation of assets and welfare, using micro-survey data from Bulgaria. Co-ownership of assets is widespread in many countries due to inheritance. Central and Eastern Europe offers an interesting natural experiment to assess the...

Food and agricultural commodity value chains in developing and transition countries have undergone tremendous changes in the past decades. Companies and property rights have been privatized, markets liberalized, and economies integrated into global food systems. The liberalization and...

Studies on efficiency changes in transition agriculture yield mixed results. This paper develops both a theoretical model and an empirical analysis of how distribution of efficiency scores changes with the various stages of transition. We use a unique set of representative farm survey data to...