This book provides an overview of the situation of rural food-processing micro-enterprsies in Polish transition. The results presented in this book cover the period between the fall of Communist regime in Poland and the Polish accession to EU in May 2004. The book's focus and scope are quite unique since as opposed to relatively large literature dealing with micro-enterprises in developing countries it concentrates on rural micro-enterprises in post-transitional Eastern Europe. The book fills the gap in the prevailing micro-enterprises literature dealing predominantly either with first world or third world.

Poland has seen impressive growth in recent years, and yet regional disparities in economic and social outcomes remain large by OECD standards. The overall living conditions in rural communities generally remain below those of urban communities, and rural households face higher poverty rates ...

From the Abstract: This volume examines the reforms and policy changes necessary in the rural sectors or the ten countries that have started the accession process for eventual membership in the European Union (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). The papers in this volume are selected from the presentations at the Third World Bank/FAO EU Accession Workshop held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 17-20, 2000, and are organized around four topics: (i) defining the concepts of rural development-options for EU accession candidate countries; (ii) rural development in the European Union; (iii) rural development in Central and Eastern Europe; and (iv) international experiences and the role of international organizations in supporting rural development in the EU accession candidate countries. This volume is intended for agricultural policy makers and government officials in the candidate countries, EU officials, World Bank and FAO staff, development scholars, and all others interested in the process of rural development in Central and Eastern Europe.

Informal economies, growing throughout the 1990s, make a central determinant of social transformation in Eastern Europe. In this book, the various patterns of informal economies and the causes of its growth in Romania are explored from quantitative and qualitative research: the difficult social transformation; informal consumption and labour of households, their incomes, developments and strategies; the impact of informalisation in different branches, related to the Romanian economy as a whole; in the end, comparisons with Eastern European countries are included, and methodological procedure is explained.

Pt. 1. Setting the scene -- pt. 2. Entrepreneurship and small business development in former Soviet republics -- pt. 3. Entrepreneurship and small business development in Central and Eastern Europe -- pt. 4. The way forward.

In the time span of a two-term US presidency, Poland went from an authoritarian one-party state with a faltering centrally planned economy to become a relatively stable multiparty democracy and a market economy with one of the highest GDP growth rates in Europe. A central feature of these economic and political reforms is a high rate of entry of new, domestically owned firms. This book uses detailed economic and political data to examine how these new firms contributed to the Polish transition. The authors test propositions about why some regions have more new firms than others and how the success of these new firms contributed to political constituencies that supported economically liberal parties. The book concludes by contrasting the Polish with the experiences of other transitional countries.

This unique Handbook explores the role of government in the development of entrepreneurship in countries where twenty years ago private enterprise was illegal or barely tolerated. The expert contributors reveal that government policy is one of the key influences on the external environment in which businesses develop, particularly in countries where it has been necessary to redefine the role of the state in relation to business development. They outline how government policy can also act as an enabling and/or a constraining force with respect to entrepreneurship development, particularly in relation to institutional change and the development of a market-based economy. This Handbook includes up-to-date information and analysis as to how entrepreneurship policies have evolved in the wider Europe, focusing on the challenges that arise in designing and implementing entrepreneurship policy. The Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship Policies in Central and Eastern Europe excellently covers different facets of entrepreneurship policies in Central and Eastern Europe and will prove invaluable for academics, students and researchers of entrepreneurship and small business as well as policy studies. Policy makers will also find plenty of key insights and relevant information in this important resource.

Even minute increases in a country's growth rate can result in dramatic changes in living standards over just one generation. The benefits of growth, however, may not be shared equally. Some may gain less than others, and a fraction of the population may actually be disadvantaged. Recent economic research has found both positive and negative relationships between growth and inequality across nations. The questions raised by these results include: What is the impact on inequality of policies designed to foster growth? Does inequality by itself facilitate or detract from economic growth, and does it amplify or diminish policy effectiveness? This book provides a forum for economists to examine the theoretical, empirical, and policy issues involved in the relationship between growth and inequality. The aim is to develop a framework for determining the role of public policy in enhancing both growth and equality. The diverse range of topics, examined in both developed and developing countries, includes natural resources, taxation, fertility, redistribution, technological change, transition, labor markets, and education. A theme common to all the essays is the importance of education in reducing inequality and increasing growth.

Loans, foreign, economic conditions.