During economic reform, Chinese economic labor markets became segmented by state sector associated with a planned redistributive economy and private sector associated with the market economy. By considering an economic sector as a concrete institutional setting in post-reform China, this paper compares the extent to which socioeconomic status, measured by education and income, is associated wit...

This chapter sets out the issues that should be considered in developing successful tax reform. Economic theory makes an essential contribution to the development of tax reform, incorporating issues of both economic efficiency and equity. However, other theoretical considerations demonstrate that successful tax design may be considerably more difficult than seems to be widely thought. In additi...

A dynamic process of social security reform took place during the economic transition in the Soviet Union from 1985 through 1991, and in the Russian Federation in 1992. Despite administrative and financial difficulties, the Gorbachev reform objectives have been incorporated (with modest revisions) into the Russian Federation pension legislation and family allowance programs. Following the adopt...

The networks of interfirm relations that developed in business groups during China’s economic transition have been an important part of the country’s economic transition. This article examines the process by which interfirm lending and trade ties emerged and evolved in the business groups in the early stages of reform. It studies the effect of business group structure on firm financial performa...

Using Chinese provincial data from 1985 to 1998 and applying recent GMM techniques developed for dynamic panels, this paper examines how the development of financial intermediation influences China’s economic growth during the post-1978 reform period. Our econometric results show that China’s financial intermediation development contributes to its rapid economic growth through two channels: the...

The objectives of the Consulting Assistance on Economic Reform (CAER II) project are to contribute to broad-based and sustainable economic growth and to improve the policy reform content of USAID assistance activities that aim to strengthen markets in recipient countries. Services are provided by the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) and its subcontractors. It is funded by ...

This article explores the key issues involved in the attempts at reform of the present medical malpractice system. Investigating the effects that federal tort reform legislation would have on physicians, patients, lawyers, and the medical malpractice insurers, Dr. Gunnar succinctly outlines the issues surrounding the present "crisis in healthcare" and explores the separate interests involved. T...

BACKGROUND A reform in 2010 in Swedish primary care made it possible for private primary care providers to establish themselves freely in the country. In the former, publicly planned system, location was strictly regulated by local authorities. The goal of the new reform was to increase access and quality of health care. Critical arguments were raised that the reform could have detrimental effe...

Since july 1991, major economic policy changes have been made under the economic reforms programme. The new policies have relaxed or removed many government controls on production capacity, imported capital goods, intermediate inputs and technology. These reforms have altered the economic environment in which the companies operate. This paper makes a comparative analysis of productivity growth ...

We study the effect of improvements in peasants’ property rights launched by the Stolypin reform on agricultural productivity in early 20 century Russia. We find that the enclosure component of the reform caused an increase in land productivity. We argue that this effect is mainly driven by better usage rights and not because of economies of scale or better tenure security. In addition, we find...