This useful volume features surveys of 10 of the 12 members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the successor organisation to the USSR. . . I heartily recommend this book for all economists interested in the economic transition of the CIS. Roy Gardner, Comparative Economic Studies The country studies (and the editors introduction) contain a wealth of statistical information that will be appreciated by many readers. . . Those interested in a broad overview will focus on the introduction and the conclusion, where the editors offer their synthesis of the ten country studies. This synthesis in itself is an important achievement that summarizes the wealth of country findings in a compact and easily readable format. Those who need more detail will greatly benefit from the in-depth treatment of the ten countries in the core chapters. The high level of scholarship of this volume ensures its usefulness, not only to academics and researchers specializing in transition, but also to development and comparative economists working on issues of economic growth. The specific country studies will be of value to economists assigned to the region by international organizations or to local economists interested to have a western perspective on developments in their countries. In summary, this is an important addition to the literature that summarizes the record of transition during the decade of the 1990s. Zvi Lerman, Slavic Review [This] book is to be commended for several reasons. First of all, it makes predominantly native research available to English speakers. Secondly, it has managed to provide separate chapters for as many as ten of the twelve members of the Commonwealth of Independent States and has not allowed its treatment of Russia to dominate the discussion. Thirdly, its approach to the theme of economic prospects is both country-oriented and comparative. And finally, it fulfills its remit in considering the future as well as the present. W.V. Wallace, Slavonic and East European Review Professors Gur Ofer and Richard Pomfret have created a volume in which timely and lucid combination of analyses, extensive information and clear-cut knowledge of what went wide of the mark during the 1990s in the Soviet bloc are all well presented. They offer economic and institutional analyses to help understand alternative routes to economic growth in the CIS. Bruno S. Sergi, Economics of Transition This first comprehensive application of the new growth accounting to systemic transition in ten ex-Soviet republics puts weak governance public and corporate and capital paucity as the key retardants to market-led dynamism today. The country-specific analyses, embedded in a rich description of resource, demographic and political environments, shows that these economies, as yet little touched by globalisation, need to build institutions qualitatively attractive to FDI and to technology transfer if their catch-up rate is to satisfy the aspirations of their still poverty-racked peoples. Michael Kaser, St Antony s College, Oxford, UK This book brings together ten original studies on the transition and growth experience and the foundations for long-term growth of the newly independent states created by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Beginning with an overview of the common pre-1992 background and comparative information on the post-1992 performance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, the authors continue by reviewing the Soviet background and post-independence experience. They then emphasise both the uniformity and diversity of the twelve CIS countries recent history. The problem of explaining economic growth in transition economies is also explored, and individual in-depth country studies are presented. The contributors to the book are a combination of in-country researchers with in-depth local knowledge and access to data, and international economists with technical expertise and experience of long-ter

This paper documents the great divide in the level of financial development between the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) 7 countries and the more advanced economies in transition, in particular those of Central and Eastern Europe and Baltic states. It discusses the roots of financial underdevelopment in the CIS-7 countries by examining the differentials in interest rate spreads between the CIS-7 countries and the transition economies that have achieved faster financial development. The roots of the divide are traced to weaknesses in the institutional infrastructure for financial intermediation, which lead to a combination of low depositor trust in the banking system and high credit risk. High credit risk stems mainly from the poor creditor-rights protection and weak auditing and accounting standards. Financial sector reform strategies that fail to give priority to the resolution of weaknesses in the basic financial infrastructure are unlikely to be successful in letting the CIS-7 countries bridge the great divide.

The former Soviet Union possessed some of the world's largest reserves of energy and mineral resources. With the dissolution of the country in 1991, the former Soviet republics are now exercising complete control over their mining industries.

This edition of the annual publication considers the need to reshape the global architecture of world trade, in order to help strengthen the economies of developing countries and reduce world poverty. The report focuses on four policy areas: the establishment of a development round of WTO negotiations to reduce trade barriers; global co-operation to expand trade outside the WTO; the adoption of pro-trade development policies by high-income countries; and enacting trade reforms in developing countries. The findings of the report suggest that developing countries could significantly increase their incomes, if all countries progressively implement the proposed trade reforms. This would result in a world with a much higher standard of living, an estimated 300 million people lifted out of poverty by 2015, and a significant increase in the number of children living beyond their fifth birthday throughout the developing world.

The vast majority of the world's poorest households depend on farming for their livelihood. During the 1960s and 1970s, most developing countries imposed pro-urban and anti-agricultural policies, while many high-income countries restricted agricultural imports and subsidized their farmers. Both sets of policies inhibited economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Although progress has been made over the past two decades to reduce those policy biases, many trade- and welfare-reducing price distortions remain between agriculture and other sectors as well as within the agricultural sector of both rich and poor countries. Comprehensive empirical studies of the disarray in world agricultural markets first appeared approximately 20 years ago. Since then the OECD has provided estimates each year of market distortions in high-income countries, but there has been no comparable estimates for the world's developing countries. This volume is the first in a series (other volumes cover Africa, Asia, and Latin America) that not only fill that void for recent years but extend the estimates in a consistent and comparable way back in time--and provide analytical narratives for scores of countries that shed light on the evolving nature and extent of policy interventions over the past half-century. 'Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Europe's Transition Economies' provides an overview of the evolution of distortions to agricultural incentives caused by price and trade policies in the economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia that are transitioning away from central planning. The book includes country and subregional studies of the ten transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe that joined the European Union in 2004 or 2007, of seven other large member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and of Turkey. Together these countries comprise over 90 percent of the Europe and Central Asia region's population and GDP. Sectoral, trade, and exchange rate policies in the region have changed greatly since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, but price distortions remain. The new empirical indicators in these country studies provide a strong evidence-based foundation for evaluating policy options in the years ahead.

Drawing upon recent progress in development economics and political science, the book provides fresh analysis of the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) countries transition to a market economy by tracing the impact of natural resource endowment. The book examines the synergies between energy-rich and energy-poor states and highlights the practical consequences of both well-managed and poorly-managed deployment of energy. Featuring contributions from prominent specialists on resource-driven economies, the book argues that unless CCA elites change the way in which they deploy natural resource, revenues regional development will fall short of its potential with possible disastrous consequences. The contributors apply the experience of the developing market economies to demonstrate that the region still holds considerable potential to become an important, stable supplier of raw materials and a source of industrial demand to the global economy. However, the CCA is equally likely to become a threat to the global economy as a consequence of the misuse of energy revenues to promote the interests of predatory political elites.

Political Handbook of the World annually provides up-to-date political information on all the world's countries in a balanced, accurate and comprehensive manner. A singular and authoritative reference work for nearly 70 years, each new volume builds on the research and scholarship of previous editions, offering rare insight into stories making headlines, judiciously outlining contemporary conflicts and analysing current foreign policy within the informed context of past events and decisions. It is considered to be the single-volume reference work of choice for libraries, diplomats, academic faculties, international corporations, and others needing accurate, timely information.

Simply stated, geography studies the locations of things and the explanations that underlie spatial distributions. Profound forces at work throughout the world have made geographical knowledge increasingly important for understanding numerous human dilemmas and our capacities to address them. With more than 1,200 entries, the Encyclopedia of Geography reflects how the growth of geography has propelled a demand for intermediaries between the abstract language of academia and the ordinary language of everyday life. The six volumes of this encyclopedia encapsulate a diverse array of topics to offer a comprehensive and useful summary of the state of the discipline in the early 21st century. Key Features Gives a concise historical sketch of geography′s long, rich, and fascinating history, including human geography, physical geography, and GIS Provides succinct summaries of trends such as globalization, environmental destruction, new geospatial technologies, and cyberspace Decomposes geography into the six broad subject areas: physical geography; human geography; nature and society; methods, models, and GIS; history of geography; and geographer biographies, geographic organizations, and important social movements Provides hundreds of color illustrations and images that lend depth and realism to the text Includes a special map section Key Themes Physical Geography Human Geography Nature and Society Methods, Models, and GIS People, Organizations, and Movements History of Geography This encyclopedia strategically reflects the enormous diversity of the discipline, the multiple meanings of space itself, and the diverse views of geographers. It brings together the diversity of geographical knowledge, making it an invaluable resource for any academic library.