| e-Newsletter |
| Last update 2010-08-23 |
| Customs Union between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia: Implications for Belarus On 27 of November 2009, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia agreed to create a Customs Union. The union establishes a common customs space in July 2010, but hopes to pave the way for deeper economic integration, namely a single economic space, by January 2012. Analyzing the potential implications of the agreement on the Belarusian economy, CASE Fellow Irina Tochitskaya reveals that while the newly introduced union may benefit the Belarusian budget due to increases in custom duties and charges, it is unlikely to increase foreign direct investment flows into the country. Instead, Russia followed by Kazakhstan will become the main beneficiaries of foreign direct investment under the agreement. CASE Network Studies and Analyses Report No. 405: The Customs Union between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia: and Overview of Economic Implications for Belarus | ||||||
 Member of CASE Advisory Council nominated Chief Economist of IMFSimon Johnson, a distinguished professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of the CASE Advisory Council since 2004, was nominated as the new chief economist of the International Monetary Fund by Rodrigo Rato, the Fund's managing director. Prof. Johnson will join the IMF in his new role as leader of the research department in late March. | ||||||
| CASE in Belgrade: Improving Management Procedures at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia Serbia aims to one day join the EU, but the emerging market economy requires institutional modernization to bring its governance system in line with the best European standards and practices. Representing CASE, Marek Dabrowski visited the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia for a five-day mission. The trip kicked-off a project to establish modern internal governance and management procedures within the Ministry that will enable more functional and uniform operations, improve quality control mechanisms and enhance the organizational and ethical culture. | ||||||
 Evaluating investment climate reforms in Sub‐Saharan AfricaCASE is performing an impact assessment study evaluating the investment climate reform initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study evaluates the impact of four International Finance Corporation initiatives which provided advisory services for investment climate reforms in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. As the IFC programs come to a close, CASE has stepped in to evaluate the results achieved and the factors affecting implementation, to gain a thorough understanding of the impact, and to identify the key lessons for the design of future regional and global programs. | ||||||
 The falling dependency on Russian gas: CASE publishes 400th Network Study and Analysis“Precisely how the spot market for natural gas will develop is uncertain, but the pipeline issues and the Russian threat to EU energy security will become as anachronistic as 1970s fears of OPEC world domination,” says Richard Pomfret in Energy Security in the EU and Beyond (CASE Network Studies and Analyses No. 400). Reflecting past energy market trends, just as the emphasis on oil security has taken a back seat, he anticipates a decreasing threat of gas dependency on Russia as nations within the EU begin to embrace new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technologies. “Energy insecurity have been fleeting and the fears have been [and will again be] assuaged by market forces or technical change” | ||||||
 The debt crisis is not limited to Greece and the eurozone“The Greek crisis is not limited to the euro zone,” CASE President Marek Dabrowski told the International Herald Tribune. “When you look at the world economic outlook, it is clear that in many advanced countries, such as the United States and Japan, there is a huge expansion of public debt as a result of the financial crisis and recession as well as short-term fiscal policy. So Greece is not an isolated case.” See "Transformation of the E.U. Has Not Been Painless" published on May 23, 2010 in the International Herald Tribune for more comments by Marek D±browski on savings, public sector borrowing, access to credit and EU reform fatigue. | ||||||
 EU-Mediterranean Trade: Shifting from “shallow” to “deep” integrationPolicies guiding economic and trade relations between the European Union (EU) and countries of the Mediterranean were aimed at creating an area of shared prosperity. More than ten years after the first trade Association Agreements came into effect, CASE Fellows Luc De Wulf and Maryla Maliszewska evaluate how these agreements have influenced regional trade and suggest policies and approaches that would assist these agreements to move from the “shallow integration” process (based simply on tariff reductions) towards “deep integration”, which will benefit from greater coordination and harmonization of economic policies and trade standards. Read CASE Network E-Brief 7/2010 Prospects for Future Euro‐Mediterranean Trade for more on regional growth trends, potential for trade expansion, and policy recommendations for improving market access and the business environment. | ||||||
 CASE hosts representatives of Armenian Think TanksFrom June 28 to July 2 CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research had the pleasure to host directors from two Armenian Think Tanks for an observational study tour. Our visitors were experts in Media Regulation and Conflict Resolution in Armenia and the South Caucasus representing the Internews’ Center for Information Law and Policy (CILP) and the Institute for Civil Society and Regional Development (ICSRD). Whereas there is a large number of think tanks in Armenia, a small number engages in policy research, and, of those that do engage in comprehensive policy research, very few have a measureable impact on policy outcomes. In order to enhance the policy-oriented research capacities of the participating institutes, CASE provided the representatives with a five day programme during which they observed the day-to-day workings of a think tank in a new member state of the EU. | ||||||
| Mapping Trends in Public Financial Management in the CEE/CIS region The results of a study mapping the trends in public financial management (PFM) reforms in 19 countries belonging to the following three regions: Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, have been published the in CASE Network Report No. 92 “Challenges and Trajectories of Fiscal Policy and PFM Reform in CEE/CIS”. The report provides an overview of fiscal policies and public financial management in countries of the former Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia and highlights areas for improvement. The analysis of the public sector expenditures has lead the researchers to conclude that the post-communist welfare state in the Western Balkans and the European part of the CIS (without the Caucasus) is both premature (given the low level of economic development of these countries) and inefficient, as it does not help to reduce poverty and inequality (and sometimes even increases them). A common problem of CEE/CIS countries is an insufficient level of fiscal decentralization (apart from the Russian Federation and Bosnia & Herzegovina), which creates an obstacle to improving social assistance targeting and the quality of public services on a local level. | ||||||
| Mergers and Acquisitions - The Standing of theory in the Quest for Better Institutions and Policy “Mergers and acquisitions to date is the only method by which the unique resources of firms that are organizationally embedded can be passed on from one firm to another and hence also potentially survive across generations.” In CASE Network Studies and Analyses Report No. 401, CASE Fellow Camilla Jensen delves into the subject of mergers and acquisitions. She notes that the existing literature is much like a battlefield of ad hoc theory-testing, leaving behind a fragmented field. While there are still many lacunas in the existing literature, today’s understanding of mergers and acquisition reflects from a deadlock between the theories of managerialism, institutionalism and a resource-based view. Mergers and acquisitions are an important, yet poorly understood economic phenomenon. This lack of analytic knowledge has important, negative repercussions for public policy. | ||||||
 Remembering Gaidar, man of many talents“Unfairly savaged by Russian populists, Russia’s radical reformer was a brilliant technocrat, a rigorous academic, and a good man. Gaidar’s academic accomplishments resonated far beyond Russia’s borders. His comparative historical approach demonstrated the extent of his multi-disciplinary erudition and ability to theorize the practical experience of various countries and institutions." CASE President Marek D±browski remembers the life achievements of Yegor Gaidar, CASE Advisory Board Member, Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition, and the former Deputy and Acting Prime Minister of Russia who managed to break with the communist economic past and lay down the foundations for a modern market economy. Read the full article published May 3, 2010 on OpenDemocracy | ||||||
 Is Inflation a Global Threat?Does inflation pose a serious global threat? According to CASE Network E-brief 8/2010, the fear of inflation is greater than justified. Positive signs emerging from the global economy prompt many economists to voice their concerns about the threat of imminent inflation. However, a careful investigation of the current economic environment suggests that while some risks exist and need to be monitored - inflation is very unlikely to get out of control in the short-to-medium term. | ||||||
| CASE wins two new framework contracts CASE has recently been successful in obtaining two new multiple framework contracts (FWC) in partnership with ECORYS - Research & Consulting from the Netherlands. Of the two new contracts, the first addresses the budget and budgetary control of the different EU policy areas, focusing on EU external policies (commissioned by the European Parliament). The second agreement concentrates on the structural performance of the European economies, structural reforms and economic evaluation of community policies (funded by the European Commission DG for Economic and Financial Affairs). | ||||||
| How service sector innovation and internationalisation impact growth and productivity – CASE kicks-off the SERVICEGAP project The increasing importance of the market service sector appears to play a crucial role in the differential economic performance among industrialised countries. A new CASE project is considering the academic and policy concerns that arise from this phenomenon. It does so by examining developments in: productivity and its drivers within market services, linkages between services and manufacturing industries, innovation in delivery and types of services, and international relationships. The research will produce a comprehensive study on the impact of market services on aggregate economic growth in the EU and its comparative performance level relative to competitor regions, particularly the US. | ||||||
 Euro Crisis or Debt Crisis?The public debt crisis is not limited to Greece or to the Euro area. In fact, several developed economies face rapidly growing debt-to-GDP ratios, which raise doubts about their long-term solvency. Thus, suggesting that the Eurozone is undergoing a currency crisis or is in danger of disintegration is not the right diagnosis (or at least premature). However, if prudent fiscal policies, fiscal discipline and far-reaching structural reforms are not undertaken soon, both the EU and EMU may face serious internal tensions and obstacles to future economic growth. (...) Read the full text CASE Network E-brief 09/2010 authored by Marek Dabrowski. | ||||||
 Global Financial Instability: Sources and Systemic SolutionsWhat are the main sources of 2007/08 crisis of asset securitization? How to mitigate risks in stressful circumstances? Is Fed responding too slowly? Have the banks begun to trust each other again? These are the questions raised during the last CASE Policy Research seminar on 9th April. The lecture was held by Lucjan T. Or³owski, Professor and Chairman at the Department of Economics and Finance, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA and a member of CASE Advisory Council. For more information on the seminar click here. | ||||||
 Alina Kudina and Malgorzata Jakubiak surveying 120 MNEs to find out the motives and impediments to FDI in the CISSurveying 120 foreign-owned companies active in the non-oil and resources sectors in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, the study finds that multi-national enterprises (MNEs) are predominantly oriented at serving local markets and operate as ‘isolated players’, while maintaining strong links to their parent companies and minimally cooperating with local CIS firms. Because supplies are secured from international sources, the possibility for spillovers arising from cooperation with foreign-owned firms in the CIS is rather low. The lack of efficiency-seeking investment poses further concern regarding the nature of FDI in the region. [No. 370: The Motives and Impediments to FDI in the CIS] | ||||||
 New Book: Determinants of Pro-Poor Growth: Analytical Issues and Findings from Country CasesPro-poor growth is considered central for achieving sustainable poverty reduction and the MDGs. This book analyzes determinants of pro-poor growth in eight countries, employing advanced research methods. The chapter entitled, "Romania in Transition: Growth, Jobs and Poverty" was co-authored by CASE experts W.Paczynski, A.Radziwill, A.Sowa, I.Topinska and M.Walewski. | ||||||
 Window of Opportunity for ReformsThe authors of Proposals for Ukraine 2010 – Time for Reforms regard the new presidential mandate, the shock of a recent severe economic crisis, and popular dissatisfaction with the status-quo, as ideal conditions for successful reform to take place in Ukraine. Despite the harsh effects of the crisis and Ukraine’s gloomy perspectives, an independent International Expert Commission finds windows of opportunity in the current situation. The chairman of the CASE Advisory Council, Anders Aslund, co-chaired this Expert Commission together with Oleksandr Paskhaver. Among others, CASE President, Marek D±browski, and CASE Advisory Council Member, Charles Wyplosz joined the Commission to get Ukraine’s reform priorities straight in a 10-point plan, complete with suggestions for fields ranging from reforms in the gas sector, to privatization, and to modernization of commercial legislation. The report was published by the International Centre for Policy Studies. | ||||||
| CASE concludes a study on the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences trade arrangement for developing countries As a partner in the consortium led by CARIS (University of Sussex), CASE has completed a mid‐term evaluation of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences with a final report published by DG TRADE. GSP is a tradearrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to 176 developing countries and territories in the form of reduced tariffs for their goods. The report considers the extent to which GSP regimes meet the needs of developing countries and puts forward recommendations for possible improvements. Final Report: Mid-term Evaluation of the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences | ||||||
 Annual Report 2007We are pleased to inform that the Annual Report 2007 was just published. Among the most important institutional achievements of CASE in 2007 the report quotes: focusing on the European Union economic relations with its neighbouring countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, expanding CASE geographic scope to Middle East and Northern Africa, strenghtening CASE network activities and increasing its visibility in Brussels and in other decision-making bodies. | ||||||
 The impact of the single market on cohesion: implications for cohesion policy, growth and competitiveness In partnership with LSE Enterprise and the Vienna University of Economics and Business & University of Helsinki, CASE begins a study titled, Single Market on Cohesion: Implications for Cohesion Policy, Growth and Competitiveness. Project researchers will provide an overview of cohesion policy and its interrelationship with other EU policies promoting competitiveness and a single market. Experts will draw conclusions for the future cohesion policy for the period post-2013 and explore the possible ways to resolve the principle-agent problem in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. | ||||||
 The Baltics - hard landing?On September 3th at 16.00 CASE hosted a seminar on the subject of "Convergence in the Baltics. From Boom to Bust". The guest lecturer was Dr Christoph B. Rosenberg, the head of the International Monetary Fund’s regional office for Central Europe and the Baltics. | ||||||
| Weighing the costs and benefits of a free trade area between the EU and Russia The EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force in 1997, foresees the possible establishment of a free trade area (FTA) between the parties. In analysing the partnership, CASE found that an EU-Russia FTA would prove beneficial to both the Russian Federation and the EU27. While under the agreement some sectors are expected to contract in the medium term, their importance in total output is small. Over the long run, the majority of sectors in Russia should expand, and only a few sectors in the EU27 may register negligible decreases in output. The overall increase in economic activity and wages, coupled with domestic policies aimed at easing the impact of transitional unemployment, could set the stage for an overall reduction of poverty rates. Read more in Modeling Economic, Social and Environmental Implications of a Free Trade Agreement Beteween the Europeand Union and the Russian Federation [CASE Network Report No. 93] | ||||||
 Should the US Federal Reserve continue to cut interest rates?Monetary policy in the US is being aggressively eased with the aim of avoiding recession and giving troubled financial institutions more breathing space to recover. Is this the right decision? Can the US economy continue to develop without a recession for almost two decades? In E-brief 2007/10, Marek Dabrowski argues that the ongoing rate cuts in the US are risky for both the US and the global economy. For more, see: The Global Repercussions of Changes in US Monetary Policy | ||||||
| Financial Crisis: Hire economic historians, not mathematicians and physicists! From left to right: Charles Goodhart, Mariusz Grendowicz, Ewa Balcerowicz "Hire fewer mathematicians and physicists and a few more historians" remarks Professor Charles Goodhart during the 100th BRE-CASE Seminar held on 22 January 2009 at BRE BANK SA premises. [click to enlarge picture] | ||||||
 Responding to Crisis, Core and Periphery“The quality of crisis management will determine the length and severity, as well as post-crisis economic prospects,” claims CASE President, Marek D±browski in the most recent Development and Transition Newsletter. In the article, Marek D±browski distinguishes between the role of the financial crisis in the ‘core’ vs. ‘periphery’ nations, by outlining the differences in impacts of the crisis and the policy responses that have resulted. The author warns about the dangers of prolonging the crisis by reverting to explicit or implicit protectionist measures, and provides projections for the realities of the post-crisis global economy . “Responding to Crisis, Core and Periphery” was published in the July 2009 in Issue 13 of the LSE and UNDP Development and Transition Newsletter, “The Regional Impact of the Global Economic Crisis” For full version of the article please visit: | ||||||
 Fiscal developments in Europe and Central AsiaLuca Barbone, currently the Director for Economic Management and Poverty Reduction in Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank, gave a presentation at the most recent CASE Research Policy Seminar on June 17th. He spoke about “Fiscal developments in Europe and Central Asia in the wake of the crisis”. The Seminar was introduced by Marek Dabrowski, and commented by CASE Researcher, Maciej Krzak. Luca Barbone detailed the different stages of fiscal policy before, during and after the crises in the region and explained trends in revenues and spending. | ||||||
 John B. Taylor on the causes of global financial crisis and how to prevent future crisesInvited by CASE and BRE Bank John B. Taylor gave presentations at two key events in Warsaw and attended meetings with CASE experts, academia, policy makers, bankers, and economic journalists. At the BRE-Bank Macroeconomic Forum on June 22, Taylor gave a presentation titled, The financial crisis: the causes and lessons learnt. How to prevent future crises. On June 23, CASE and the Warsaw School of Economics hosted Professor Taylor for a seminar addressing the question, “Does the crisis experience call for a new paradigm in monetary policy?” Presentations: | ||||||
| The Supervisory Council approved Three New Appointments In a meeting held on 22 October, CASE’s Supervisory Council approved three new appointments, in addition to accepting Malgorzata Jakubiak’s resignation from her current position as Vice-President. Malgorzata will continue her successful research career within the European Commission’s DG Trade Chief Economist Office beginning on 1 November. At the Management Board level, Sebastien Leclef, currently a Senior Research Programme Officer within CASE’s Project Team, will take on the role of Vice-President once Malgorzata Jakubiak’s term comes to an end on 31 October. Former V-P James Cabot will be appointed as a new member of the Supervisory Council, from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013. While serving as V-P, James resiliently worked on meliorating CASE’s development assistance and communications. Dr. Susan Schadler will join CASE’s Advisory Council until the expiration of its current term on 30 June 2010. A former IMF staff member, namely as a Deputy Director of the European Department (1999-2007), she is also the author of several publications on emerging market economies. | ||||||
 UNDESA conference on "Strengthening integration of the economies in transition into the world economy through economic diversification"During the UNDESA/UNECE Conference on "Strengthening integration of the economies in transition into the world economy through economic diversification" in Geneva, April 2-4, 2008 Marek D±browski made a presentation on "Addressing the policy challenge in economies which are not rich in natural resources: the case of low- income CIS economies". | ||||||
 Diversity and Commonality in European Social Policies: The Forging of a European Social Modeledited by Stanislawa Golinowska, Peter Hengstenberg and Maciej Zukowski deals with the complex issue of forming a European Social Model. One important insight is that having member states working together on common social policy challenges is a more proactive approach given the supranational character of some social issues and the added value a European perspective can bring to national policies. | ||||||
 Changes at CASECASE would like to wish Joanna Binienda and Izabela Marcinkowska farewell and good luck! Joanna Binienda, who was with CASE for eight years in the PR division, has left to complete her Masters degree in Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw. Izabela worked as Research Program Officer at CASE and has now returned to the University of Torino in Italy to begin her PhD degree in economics. We hope to see them again soon at CASE. We also welcome Beata Matysiewicz, our newest Research Program Officer. | ||||||
| Knowledge-based enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe: Contributing to the diffusion of innovation rather than innovating KEINS (Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship: Innovation, Networks and Systems), a recently completed project funded under the EU Sixth Framework Program, was devoted to the analysis of the factors behind the evolution and growth of knowledge-intensive firms. Studying over 300 knowledge-based enterprises (KBEs) in six transition countries, one of the key insights of the research is that KBEs in Central and East European countries tend to be knowledge-customizing firms rather than knowledge-creating. Click on more to read a summary of the project’s findings. | ||||||
 CASE co-hosting the energy workshopOne day workshop on "The Economic Aspects of the Energy Sector in CIS Countries" presented the key findings from the project carried by CASE for European Commission’s DG ECFIN. The workshop took place at the premises of the EC Delegation in Moscow. The topics covered included key macroeconomic issues related to energy sector functioning in the CIS, CIS role for the EU energy supply, and strategies and policy options for the energy sector development in the CIS region. The report has just been published in the European Economy. Economic Paper Series of the DG ECFIN. | ||||||
| Integration: Stabilizing the Balkans Ma³gorzata Jakubiak, CASE Vice-President, presenting a recent report on Trade and Economic Relations between the EU and the Western Balkans during the session of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade on 9 September in Brussels. Full report | ||||||
 Azerbaijan: Advisory Service on Macroeconomic Management and Institutional ReformsAfter seventeen years of independence, Azerbaijan is enjoying a major oil boom due to last for the next 15 years. However, the country must now learn how to effectively manage its oil revenues so as to insure growth in the non-oil sectors, sustainable poverty reduction and governance strengthening. CASE's two-year Advisory Service Technical Project in Azerbaijan will aim at improving the quality of economic policy-making process and the institutional and human resources capacity of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economic Development, guiding the latter towards increased autonomy in providing adequate response to economic challenges. | ||||||
| Supporting UNICEF to Achieve Improvements in Outcomes for Children and Families in the Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States Regions CASE has been selected by UNICEF to conduct a study on Public Finance Management (PFM) reforms in 19 countries belonging to the Western Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The study is designed to help UNICEF upgrade its institutional capacity in conducting more effective and well targeted interventions aimed at preserving and extending the interests of children and their families through a better rooted involvement at times when real prioritization takes place, i.e., during budgets and Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks discussions with national authorities. Click on more for additional details about this project. | ||||||
 New project takes off - The EU-Mediterranean Partnership until 2025A kick-off meeting in Brussels on 14-15 April 2010 commenced a new three-year FP-7 project, MEDPRO - Prospective Analysis for the Mediterranean Region carried out by the consortium of 18 institutes from Europe and Mediterranean region and led by the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS). CASE plays one of the key roles in this consortium coordinating WP5 on “Economic integration, trade, investment and sectoral analysis” and contributing to three other workpackages, including project’s scientific coordination. By considering a wide range of political, social, environmental and economic interactions, MEDPRO aims to put forward a number of alternative scenarios that can be expected to arise by 2025 in the region. MEDPRO findings will provide the foundations for future policy on social and economic sustainable development, and depict the role of the EU in providing new avenues for the future of EU-Mediterranean Partnership. | ||||||
 Social security, Labour Market and Restructuring – Russia and Ukraine In Social security, Labour Market and Restructuring – Russia and Ukraine (CASE Network E-Brief 5/2010) expert Anna Ruzik looks back at the evolution of the labour market and social security in the past two decades. She welcomes recent reforms of the social safety net, but at the same time, worries about the effectiveness of social support programmes. In analyzing the gender dimension, Ms. Ruzik finds that the reforms have widened the gender gap by aggravating certain disadvantageous conditions for women. | ||||||
 Does the Crisis Experience Call for a New Paradigm in Monetary Policy?CASE Network Studies and Analyses Report No. 402 evaluates monetary policy during the financial crisis by dividing the crisis into three stages: pre-panic, panic and post-panic. Author John B. Taylor explains that the monetary policy paradigm in place before the financial crisis worked very well; the crisis occurred when policy makers deviated from that paradigm and undertook extraordinary measures which fell short of their expectations. Rather than calling for a new paradigm in monetary policy, John B. Taylor promotes a stricter adherence to the rules already in place. | ||||||
 Study on Price Convergence appears in DG ECFIN Economic PapersPrzemys³aw Wozniak, a member of the CASE Supervisory Council, together with a team of economists from DIW Berlin, are the authors of a study on the effects of the EU-10 enlargement on price convergence in the enlarged internal market. The paper was published in the “Economic Papers” series produced by the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). The results of the analysis of comparative price levels in the EU-25 confirmed the presence of price convergence. Moreover, it found that both the catching up effect of the EU-10 and increased competitiveness pressure on prices have been important factors for explaining price convergence. In addition, both effects seem to be more pronounced for the EU-10 than for the EU-15. | ||||||
| Energy Investment Potential: Ukraine Beginning in February, CASE will complete a 4 month study for the OECD digging deep to uncover the potential of energy savings, efficiency improvements, and the use of environmentally friendly technology, in the energy market in Ukraine. The study will be a part of the OECD Investment Policy Review of Ukraine carried out by the OECD Investment Division in order to enhance the country’s policy convergence with the OECD investment instruments and prepare the ground for its eventual adherence to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. The study (Investment in support of energy savings and efficiency and in environment friendly energy resources and technologies in Ukraine: Government policies and business practices) will be lead by CASE Fellow Wojciech Paczynski. | ||||||
 "Dutch disease" threatens Venezuelan economyOn March 23, 2010, Teodoro Petkoff, Venezuelan journalist, economist and former politician delivered a lecture about his nation’s economy and politics. The lecture took place as part of the CASE Policy Research Seminar series. Petkoff stated that as a member of OPEC, Venezuela’s economy bears a greater resemblance to oil-rich countries such as Nigeria, Algeria and Saudi-Arabia, than to some of its Latin-American neighbours. He explained that Venezuela suffers from the so-called curse of natural resources, or what Petkoff labelled the ‘Dutch disease’; the Venezuelan economy is dependant on oil exports to a degree which suffocates the development of other economic activities. During the seminar, Petkoff also discussed the effects of the political situation on the economy. | ||||||
 Gazprom's New Weakness Offers Opportunity by Anders Aslund"Gazprom has gone from being a great commercial hope to an ailing giant. Gazprom's owners need to face up to the crisis and institute reforms," writes Anders Aslund in CASE Network E-brief 6/2009. "The current recession exposes Gazprom's weakness and offers an excellent opportunity to reform it. For the European Union, Gazprom's new weakness offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the gas trade with Russia to improve." | ||||||
 Technical Assistance to CIS Countries: Performance At StakeWhile technical assistance has played a positive and important role in the transformation of the CIS societies since the last two decades, practically all stakeholders currently share the opinion that many problems have accumulated in the area of technical cooperation with CIS countries. The analysis suggests that a good understanding, recognition and coordination of the interests of all TC stakeholders and a reduction in the information gap between the various participants in the technical cooperation process are necessary for improving the effectiveness of technical cooperation. [No. 369: Technical Assistance to CIS Countries] | ||||||
| Global Food Price Shock and the Poor in Egypt and Ukraine The global food price shock of 2006-2008 affected the poorer strata of populations in several developing countries. In Egypt and Ukraine, it has put food subsidy schemes to the test. See how their subsidy schemes and policy responses compare in CASE Network Studies and Analyses Report No. 403. The report has been published following the completion of Global Food Price Shock and the Poor in Egypt and Ukraine: A Comparison of Policy Regimes and Reform Options, a FEMISE research network project carried out by CASE in partnership with CASE-Ukraine and ECES-Egyptian Center for Economic Studies. | ||||||
 Ukraine at a CrossroadsSixteen years after obtaining independence and three years after the Orange Revolution, Ukraine has reached a crossroads. It has broken with the Soviet and totalitarian past but its democracy is still young and fragile, and therefore vulnerable to various political shocks. Basic civil and economic freedoms are not well protected due to numerous legal and institutional imperfections. Although Ukraine has succeeded in building the basic institutional foundations of a market economy, its capitalism is heavily distorted and its economic transition is far from complete. | ||||||
 Rising Food PricesOn July 7th at 16.00 CASE hosted a seminar on the topic of the Global Food Crisis. The guest lecturer was Dr. Luca Barbone, the director of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) for the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. | ||||||
| In defense of entrepreneurial capitalism Many famous economists (like Mises, Hayek, Schumpeter, Nozick and other thinkers) have noted that under democratic capitalism there are always influential intellectualists who condemn capitalism and call for the state to restrain the markets. Such an activity bears no risk and may be very rewarding – argues Leszek Balcerowicz, the Member of CASE Supervisory Council in the article titled "This has not been a pure failure of markets" published in Financial Times of May 14, 2009 – see http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db850b90-401f-11de-9ced-00144feabdc0.html?nclick&nclick_check=1. | ||||||
 The Emerging Aversion to InequalityOn June 4th CASE proudly hosted a Research Policy Seminar, lead by Dr. Irena Grosfeld, PhD (Research Director at the Paris School of Economics and the National Centre for Scientific Research-CNRS). Dr. Grosfeld’s topic, The Emerging Aversion to Inequality- Evidence from Poland 1992-2005, evoked a great number of questions from those present for the seminar; the lively discussion is a testament to the excellent work Dr. Grosfeld, and her partner Dr. Claudia Senik, have done, and continue to do in their area of research. | ||||||
 Erawatch Country Report 2008The reports are produced for each EU Member State to support the mutual learning process and the monitoring of Member States' efforts by DG Research in the context of the Lisbon Strategy and the European Research Area. | ||||||
 EU Migration Policy creates instability rather than solidarity in the regionIn the recent CASE Report, State of the Art: The Nexus between European Neighborhood Policy and Justice and Home Affairs, authors Elspeth Guild, Viktoriya Khasson and Miriam Mir of CEPS examine the migration policies developed within the European Neighborhood Policy. They conclude that the ENP migration policy simply repackages much of what has already been agreed upon with third countries. "As regards irregular migration, the emphasis is on placing obligations on the neighbours to act as the buffer between the EU and other third countries...Instead of reinforcing solidarity in the region, such an approach is likely to create tension and instability." | ||||||
 Aslund: Russia’s Situation is Untenable In his latest book, Russia's Capitalist Revolution: Why Market Reform Succeeded and Democracy Failed, Anders Aslund describes Russia’s successful transition to a market economy, and its failure to transform into a democracy. Aslund concludes that this situation is not likely to hold as Russia is too wealthy, educated, pluralist, and open to be so authoritarian. He argues that either the market economy or the authoritarian rule will have to give. His view of Putin is critical; he observes that Putin has created a system that leaves him little choice but to stay on as president. The book provides a broad overview of Russia's economic and political history from Gorbachev’s entry in 1985 until the present. The author uses a revolutionary paradigm to make sense of Russia’s recent past. Anders Aslund is the Chairman of the CASE Advisory council and a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC. For more on the book, see the Peterson Institute bookstore. | ||||||
| Implementing a New EU Security Approach in the Neighbourhood The result of a joint effort by CASE and the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), the report entitled EC Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements: Implementing a New EU Security Approach in the Neighbourhood offers an insight in the objectives and political implications of visa facilitation and readmission agreements. Full report The report is part of a larger undertaking on EU Eastern Neighbourhood - Economic Potential and Future Development (ENEPO), a Specific Targeted Research Project coordinated by CASE and funded under the 6th Framework Programme of the European Union. Find out more about ENEPO | ||||||
 Newly established CASE Belarus joins CASE networkWe are pleased to welcome our newest daughter organization, CASE Belarus, into the CASE network. Representatives of CASE, CASE Ukraine and IPM Research Center finalized the registration of the new center in June. The executive director is Sier¾ Naūrodski and Deputy Director is Alexander Chubrik. CASE Belarus research activities will focus on transition challenges facing the Belarusian economy. We look forward to future cooperation. Related news: Click here to read the latest e-brief: The Potential of Small and Medium Entreprises in Belarus by Sier¾ Naūrodski | ||||||
Is the role of micro-enterprises, i.e. those that employ 0-9 people, in Poland greater or smaller than their role in other nations of the European Union? How are Polish enterprises different from “EU” enterprises? Ewa Balcerowicz seeks to answer these questions in her recently published article, “Micro-enterprises in Poland in the broader context of the European Union,” in the latest edition of the Report on the Condition of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Sector in Poland in 2007- 2008. | ||||||
 Improving international development cooperation of NGOs in the Visegard countriesMainstreaming gender into international development projects, and the social and economic development impact of international migration, were the themes covered by the two most recent Raising Awareness Round Tables completed under the project, Fostering Global Responsibility: Building a Development Policy Knowledge Network to enhance NGO Public Outreach Initiatives in EU New Member States. Round Table VI was held in Prague on 18-19 of February, and Round Table VII in Budapest, March 25-26. Each two day conference hosted speakers and workshop leaders to engage participants in these key development issues. In total, the events trained close to 50 representatives of NGO development platforms from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. | ||||||
 Challenges to China's GrowthIn the latest paper in the CASE Network Studies and Analyses series, Dr. Wing Thye Woo asks, "What could derail China's high growth?" He draws an analogy between China and a speeding car and predicts that a crash could occur due to: (1) the breakdown of an economic mechanism (2) a flaw in governance that creates social disorders or (3) the loss of economic viability e.g. an environmental collapse or an export collapse. The fact that China has recently declared that its most important task is to build a Harmonious Society (described as a democratic society under the rule of law and living in harmony with nature) suggests that improvements in governance and protection of the environment are among the most serious challenges to achieving sustainable development. Wing Thye Woo is a senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Professor of Economics at the University of California at Davis, and member of the CASE Advisory council. The paper was presented within the BRE-CASE seminar series on Oct. 11th. Read the abstract and full paper HERE. Video clips of the presentation will be available online by next week. | ||||||
 Can the promise of EU membership be a regional public good?In the newest issue of CASE Studies and Analyses, experts Marek D±browski and Artur Radziwi³³ find that the prospects of EU accession and trade liberalization are correlated with the faster pace of economic and institutional reforms in Central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states. The study shows that the accession conditionalities established by the EU are more effective in motivating reforms than conditionalities put forth by other international organizations. | ||||||
 CASE Contributes to OECD Book: Evidence in EducationThroughout 2006, Jerzy Wisniewski has been organizing a series of meetings at CASE at which former education ministers of Poland discuss the communication gap between evidence-based research and current education policy in Poland, with the aim of designing a permanent mechanism that could help bridge this gap. One of the first outcomes of this series of meetings has been a contributing chapter on Poland in the new OECD book, Evidence in Education: Linking Research and Policy. The book focuses on the “challenge of effective brokering between education policy makers and researchers” in all OECD countries. Please see the OECD online bookshop for a short summary, table of contents and purchasing information. Click here to download the chapter on Poland. | ||||||
 How Feasible Is a EU-Georgia and a EU-Armenia Free Trade Agreement?The two e-briefs look at how far integration with the EU has proceeded and what are the remaining problems. A free trade agreement that would involve deep integration in the form of a comprehensive set of reforms along with flanking measures e.g. on competition and corruption is found to accrue the benefits for both Georgia and Armenia. In both cases, however, serious questions remain as to their willingness and institutional capacity to undertake further commitments. A joint reading of these two separate experiments reveals that reaping the benefits of deep integration will be a more laborious task for Armenia as the country needs to make additional efforts in undertaking reforms and fighting corruption. | ||||||
 Poland's Economy after the Elections: Is Inflation a threat?"The Polish economy lost some of its momentum in the third quarter of 2007. Though inflationary pressures were modest in the third quarter, there are signs that demand factors will soon surface and add tensions to the flucutations in the CPI rate, " warn members of the CASE Macroeconomic forecasting team. The latest Polish Economic Outlook (3/2007) was released at a press conference at CASE on 13 November. In this edition of the quarterly, the authors devote a special section to the economic consequences of the early parliamentary elections. For the full report, click here: Polish Economic Outlook 3/2007. | ||||||
 Positive Growth in Euro Area in 2007Despite uncertainty about the evolution of the situation in financial markets, the authors of the EUROFRAME EFN Autumn report forecast economic expansion in the Euro Area to remain strong in the second half of 2007, bringing growth for the whole year to 2.7%. The authors predict growth to slow moderately in 2008 and 2009 to around 2.25 %, a level of growth which is close to the growth of potential output. The report is available here: Autumn 2007 Special Issue: European Social Models and Social Europe EFN is a 3 year project aimed at producing biannual macro-economic forecasts for the euro area, Europe, and other regions, together with an analysis of topical policy issues for the European Commission. The forecast and the analysis are prepared by a consortium of 10 independent European institutes: see www.euroframe.org/efn. | ||||||
 IMF Reform Debate in Central AsiaTo date, the debate about International Monetary Fund (IMF) Reform has been shaped largely by conversations within and among OECD countries. The project "New Rules for Global Finance Coalition" proposes to remedy this imbalance by encouraging a series of regional conferences that would enable developing countries to articulate their needs and priorities for future services from the IMF. One of such meetings will be jointly organized by CASE-Kyrgyzstan and Centre for International Governance and Innovation and will take place on 20-21 May in Bishkek. It will bring together senior officials and scholars from a number of countries of the region, along with a few other invitees, to analyze and discuss Central Asian perspectives on global monetary cooperation. | ||||||
| Is Georgia Ready for a Free Trade Agreement with the EU? Hinting at an answer, CASE Vice-President, Malgorzata Jakubiak, presented the major findings of the study on The Economic Feasibility, General Economic Impact and Implications of Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Georgia According to the European Union Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan during an Eurasia Partnership Foundation Forum held in Tbilisi on 1st October. For more information about the project and CASE's activities in Georgia, please click here. | ||||||
 An Aging Europe: Where are productivity costs most acute? “Due to serious differences in labor market structures between the New Member States (NMS) (including current candidates) and the EU15, the former will be the first to experience higher-than-average productivity costs of ageing in the near future.” This hypothesis is examined by Mateusz Walewski in the latest paper in the CASE Network Studies and Analyses series, “Analysis of cross-country differences in the shape of the age-wage relationship with an attempt to tackle age-productivity differences within the EU.” Walewski notes that the relationship between age and productivity is becoming increasingly important as the European population ages and the retirement age increases. Thus as the average age of workers goes up, the average level of productivity growth will go down, resulting in the decreasing competitiveness of European economies. How does the relative productivity of older workers in the NMS compare to productivity in the EU15? Click here to see all the latest CASE publications. | ||||||
| Economic Assessment of the Euro Area: EUROFRAME 2008 Report Release The EUROFRAME Group, of which CASE is a member, launched today its latest report giving GDP and inflation projections for the EURO area for the years 2009-2011. The Group anticipates a GDP fall in the Euro area of 0.4% in 2009, with modest growth expected to return in 2010-2011. The report also considers the likely long-term consequences of the current financial crisis for the level of GDP. Automn 2008 Report Press Release PDF | ||||||
| The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Lessons A lack of a coordinated global monetary policy at a time when finance and the economy are inextricably interrelated allowed the US and other major central banks to adopt lax monetary policies for too long. While the interest rate cuts fueled global economic growth in the short-term, and inflation was nowhere on the horizon, excess liquidity resulting from low interest rate and emerging markets’ mercantilist policy eventually created three asset bubbles in the real estate, stock, and commodity markets which led to the current financial crisis. [PRESENTATION] | ||||||
| The Euro Did Not Raise Prices in The EMU Contrary to the general belief that the introduction of the euro raised the general price level in the EMU, Dr. Przemyslaw Wozniak argued on Wednesday 19 November during a CASE Policy Research Seminar that the euro had a price-dampening effect, especially on consumer goods. READ Presentation. | ||||||
 Challenges to European integrationThe EU’s limited fiscal capacity has proven to be the most critical constraint in being able to respond to the crisis in a proper and well coordinated manner at the Union level argues Marek Dabrowski in his newly published paper in CASE Network Studies and Analyses series | ||||||
 CASE support for Institutional Strengthening in EgyptAs of December, CASE has been participating in a project in Egypt, entitled, "Support for the Institutional Strengthening of the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre," under the EU-funded Lot 10 Framework. The purpose of the project is to provide technical assistance to the Center in developing its policy research, analytical and policy advice potential, with the aim of strengthening the government's capacity to design economic policies and economic reforms. | ||||||
 What can Poland learn from Portugal?A memo from The Portuguese experience from 1995 to 1999 shows clearly that Polish fiscal policy should be changed and that postponement of public finance reform is irresponsible. Discussants and guests of the 94th BRE-CASE seminar talked about pending public finance reform on 7 February. Poland, like Portugal in the 1990s, is in a strong economic growth period. Maciej Krzak, head of the CASE macroeconomic team, has argued that the similarities between the economic booms in both countries are striking: strong expansion of domestic credit (especially housing credits), strong wage increases, a growing current account deficit and a growing budget deficit. | ||||||
 How Ukraine became a Market Economy and Democracyby Anders Aslund provides an insightful analysis of the country’s transformation since its independence in 1991. Three periods of reforms particularly contributed to making this transformation a success. Economically, Kuchma’s 1994-96 financial stabilization and mass privatization and Yushkenko’s 2000 cracking on the rent-seeking society allowed for economic growth to return. Politically, the 2004 Orange Revolution provided the necessary impetus for democracy to break through in the country. http://bookstore.petersoninstitute.org/book-store/4273.html Anders Aslund, currently a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, is also Chairman of CASE’s Advisory Council. | ||||||
 Holiday Greetings  | ||||||
 EU-Russia FTA Feasibility Study“Both Russia and the EU would benefit from a bilateral free trade agreement in the future, particularly if it is deep one,” according to CASE experts who worked on the recent study, Economic Feasibility and General Economic Impact of a Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation. The experts recommend an FTA which, apart from removing import tariffs, would involve a substantial reduction of non-tariff barriers, approximation of the regulatory regime for many goods and service markets and improvements in customs procedures and regulations. The study was commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Trade. Members of the CASE team, coordinated by Maryla Maliszewska, presented the results of the study to EC in July. Click here for more information about the project. | ||||||
| How to improve the investment climate in the CIS? “Get policy-makers to support stronger macroeconomic fundamentals, to promote greater integration with regional and global trading blocs, and to reform domestic, financial, regulatory, and political institutions” answers Alina Kudina in CASE’s just released Network E-brief (No.02/2009). | ||||||
 New approach to ODA policies“Europe has, in the last decades, experienced a number of success stories in moving out of poverty and onto sustainable economic growth. The secret of success has been the push towards economic integration and the adoption of economic reforms at the local, national, and regional levels conducive to economic growth. The recipient countries of development assistance have much to learn from the European experience” – argue Paolo Garonna, Deputy Executive Secretary and Abdur Chowdhury, Director of the Economic Analysis Division and Technical Cooperation Unit at UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). In a paper entitled Effective Foreign Aid, Economic Integration and Subsidiarity: Lessons from Europe, Garonna and Chowdhury propose an alternative approach to development assistance policies – economic integration and subsidiarity, which provides the conditions necessary for ODA to produce higher rates of economic growth on a sustainable basis. The paper, now available in the CASE Studies and Analyses Series, was presented at the Winds of Change conference in March. Excerpts from Paolo Garonna and Abdur Chowdhury’s conference presentation are available for online viewing at www.video.case.com.pl [Open: clip 1, clip 2, clip 3] | ||||||
 After the Orange Era: Economic Prospects in UkraineWhen Victor Yanukovich won Ukraine's presidential election in February 2010, it marked the official end of the Orange Revolution. Soon after taking office, Yanukovich managed to form a loyal parliamentary coalition by appointing his ally Mykola Azarov as Prime Minister. This decision may have made immediate term governing more stable, but has it come at the expense of Ukraine's long-term democratic freedom and economic prosperity? Read CASE Network E-brief 10/2010 for more on the political and economic outlook for Ukraine. | ||||||
 Institutions and ConvergenceInstitutional variables are the most important factor explaining real convergence. But what are institutions? Leszek Balcerowicz, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Poland and a member of the CASE Supervisory Council examines the relationship between institutions and policies, institutions and organisations, and formal and informal institutions in "Studies and Analyses" no. 342. He presented his paper entitled `Institutions and convergence´ during session 2 `Global Imbalances: Sources, Sustainability, and Policy Responses´ of the Winds of Change conference in March. Click here to view this and other post-conference papers. | ||||||
 Financial Crisis: Is There a Wandering Asset-Price Bubble?Dr. Orlowski argues in this Network Study and Analysis that the severity of the crisis is strongly influenced by changeable allocations of global savings, which lead to over-pricing of varied types of assets. This process is termed a "wandering asset-price bubble". [No. 372: Stages of the Ongoing Global Financial Crisis: Is There a Wandering Asset-Price Bubble?] | ||||||
 An Active September for ENEPO: 4 New PublicationsWith four publications making their entry on our Website, ENEPO is fast-tracking its results as the project approaches the end. 365, 366, 367 and 368 are the latest studies and analyses undertaken as part of this project financed by the EU's 6th Framework Programme and due to end in 2009 with a conference in Brussels. Wide by their scope, these recent publications examine different aspects of the European Union's relations with its Eastern neighbours, going as far as investigating Eastern policies in the field of human and minority rights from a Finno-Ugric solidarity standpoint. | ||||||
 The Russia Balance Sheetco-authored by Anders Aslund, chairman of the CASE Advisory Council and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Andrew Kuchins, senior fellow as the Center for Strategic International Studies; is a clear and insightful analysis of the driving forces of contemporary Russia. The authors provide thoughtful and provocative policy recommendations for improving US-Russia relations, and emphasize the importance of mutual understanding between the states. Zbigniew Brzezinski describes the book as "rightly critical of the overly personalized style of the previous US administration's policy". The recently published book is available at http://bookstore.piie.com/book-store/4242.html. | ||||||
 Ma³gorzata Jakubiak named Vice President of CASE Management BoardOn 1 December, Ma³gorzata Jakubiak succeeded Artur Radziwi³³ as Vice President for Research Programs at CASE. Ma³gorzata is an expert on international trade, macroeconomics, monetary policy and innovation and has been with CASE since 1997. She has published various texts on trade flows, exchange rates, savings and investments, and European Neighbourhood Policy. For her full profile click here. Artur Radziwi³³ will continue work with CASE as a senior research fellow and experienced policy expert. The CASE Supervisory Council congratulates Malgorzata and wishes her success in her new position. The Council also thanks Artur for doing an excellent job during the last three and half years, as his work has greatly contributed to CASE’s international success. | ||||||
 Economic and Social Consequences of Industrial Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine"The demographic situation and the labour supply in Russia and Ukraine were strongly affected by the transition processes. The most important problem is the decreasing size of the population due to low birth rates and short life expectancy, especially among men" is one of the conclusions outlined by experts in the three latest working papers issued under ESCIRRU, a project funded under the EU's 6th Framework Programme. | ||||||
 Management Board's AddressIn 2008 CASE entered its eighteenth year of activity. As a respected international economics think tank CASE is going to consolidate its position within the European research market and explore new frontiers in development assistance activities. Meeting the first goal requires developing and strengthening our research network by engaging with more high-quality researchers from within and outside Europe to work with CASE both on a full and part-time basis. To make our research output available to a broader professional public as well as have a growing impact on the European policy debate we must upgrade our ways and means of external communications, series publications, seminars and conferences as well as other forms of public outreach. | ||||||
| Energy Sector in the CIS: Policy Challenges and the Importance for the EU On 22 September 2008, CASE hosted a policy research seminar on the Energy Sector in the CIS featuring Mr. Wojciech Paczyñski, Team Leader of the final report on The Economic Aspects of the Energy Sector in CIS Countries, commissioned by the EC’s Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs. Presentation online | ||||||
| CASE ranks 3rd in the Top 25 Leading Think Tanks in Eastern Europe The ranking is according to the 2008 Global Go-To Think Tanks Index which gathers the best think tanks around the world. Topping the list of Eastern European think tanks is the Carnegie Moscow Center and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Russia. | ||||||
 The Global Financial Crisis: Causes, Channels of Contagion and Potential LessonsIn the face of an uncertain future with regards to the financial crisis effects but of a sure ongoing worldwide storm, Dr. Marek Dabrowski provides an interim diagnosis of the financial crisis and draw the first lessons for the future in The Global Financial Crisis: Causes, Channels of Contagion and Potential Lessons. | ||||||
 Shadow Employment in PolandAt the end of December, a team of CASE social policy experts concluded a project which studied the phenomenon of unregistered workers in Poland. The team, led by Mateusz Walewski (pictured left), estimates that 9.3% of all jobs in Poland are held by unregistered workers, with the majority in rural areas. Lack of alternative job opportunities for unskilled workers was found to be the driving force behind shadow employment. At the same time, the studies indicate strong preferences and a positive attitude towards shadow employment among the general population. In order to reduce the size of shadow employment in the long term, the team recommends decreasing non-wage labour costs, increasing the severity and likelihood of punishment and strengthening the levels trust in public institutions and the rule of law. The project was funded by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and its detailed results will be presented at the Ministry’s conference in the spring. See the project page at: Poland’s shadow employment: its size, characteristics and social consequences. | ||||||
 9th International Academic Conference in MoscowMr Marek D±browski, Chairman of CASE Supervisory Council, participated in the 9th International Academic Conference on "Economic Modernization and Globalization" in Moscow on April 1-3, 2008 organized by the Higher School of Economics. He made presentation on "Key macroeconomic issues related to the energy sector in the CIS" (Session A-05) and chaired one of the sessions. The presentation is a result of the CIS Energy project conducted by CASE for the DG ECFIN. | ||||||
 Jeffrey Sachs, Marek Dabrowski debate effectiveness of aidDr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and a member of the CASE Advisory Council, presented his vision for effective development aid to those countries excluded from the globalization process at a debate hosted by CASE and Gazeta Wyborcza on October 1st. Marek Dabrowski, Chairman of the Supervisory Council, argued that aid must go hand in hand with sensible economic policies. Video excerpts of the event are now available at http://www.video.case.com.pl/ Dr. Sachs received a PhD honoris causa at the opening ceremony of the academic year at the Economic University in Krakow on October 2nd. Professor Sachs is one of the world's most well-known economists. He has worked on issues of poverty reduction, debt cancellation and sustainable development for more than 20 years. He helped develop "shock therapy" as a solution to the economic crises in Poland, Russia and Bolivia. In 2004-2005 Dr. Sachs was named one of the world's 100 most influential leaders by Time magazine. | ||||||
 Oil Money vs. Economic Crisis: The Case of AzerbaijanIn Network E-Brief 6/2010 CASE Fellows Alexander Chubrik and Mateusz Walewski examine the effects of global financial crisis on Azerbaijan’s economy. As a small, CIS country dependent on oil exports, Azerbaijan is an interesting case study. The worst damage to its economy was not a direct result of the crisis, but of the drop in oil prices which led to a serious GDP reductions. In early 2010, oil prices and investment are on the rise and the outlook for Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector is improving, but the authors warn that inflation is becoming the main short-term challenge which may undermine recovery by offsetting rising non-oil exports and by contributing to both an increase of imports and a non-oil external trade deficit. | ||||||
 "Economics, not Politics in Central Europe's Biggest Problem"writes Anders Aslund in an op-ed article for the Financial Times (Nov. 8th). Aslund is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Chairman of the CASE Advisory Council. Click below to read the article which compares the economic performance of Central European countries with the countries of Western Europe, the Baltics and the former Soviet Union. | ||||||
 The price of delay: the future of Russian and Ukrainian pension systemsWith average pension rates in Russia and Ukraine just above the official poverty lines, it is clear that reforms in the system are both necessary and urgent. The “redecorating” of the old pension systems can no longer solve the core problems which both countries are facing. In The price of delay: the future of Russian and Ukrainian pension systems, CASE expert Oxana Sinyavskaya pleads for sweeping reforms of their pensions systems. Instead of focusing solely on the economic background, she suggests that policy makers should realize that certain features of the demographic development of both countries are responsible for the long-term instability of their pension systems.
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 Calling for reforms: the post-crisis development in RussiaDespite economic stabilization of the Russian economy in the first half of the 2009, Russia finds itself in a difficult position with no explicit post-crisis exit strategy and drawn-out economic problems calling for reforms. In Challenges of Post-Crisis Economic Policy in Russia (CASE E-brief 04/2010), expert Sergey Drobyshevsky points to the key economic challenges, which, if not addressed, put at risk the gains brought by the period of rapid economic development. Despite popular slogans about the need for modernization and economic development, the current lack of political will to conduct the named reforms preserves the dominant role of Russian raw material sector. | ||||||
 Reducing Shadow Employment: Russia and UkraineFinding that workers in the shadow economies in both Russia and Ukraine do not receive higher net incomes than those in the formal sector, CASE Fellow Mateusz Walewski concludes that incentives driving workers to join the shadow economy in both cases are not based on tax evasion but rather the lack of formal employment opportunities. Therefore, the tax reforms of 2001 and 2004 in Russia and Ukraine, respectively, which aimed to reduce the benefits of joining the shadow economy, failed to address the true incentives for shadow employment. | ||||||
 Sound expenditure and long term growth: assessing public finances in the EU Mediterranean partner countries Drawn from a diverse array of countries, ranging from candidate-member Croatia to autocratic Syria, data point to clear connections between sound public finance expenditure and long-term growth in the EU’s Mediterranean Partner Countries. The findings are part of a report completed for the European Commission, DG ECFIN, by CASE Fellows, Luc De Wulf and Cyrus Sassanpour, along with Leonor Coutinho. The full report of the “Study on quality of public finances in support of growth in the Mediterranean partner countries of the EU” is now available online on the EC website. | ||||||
| The global financial crisis and public service delivery in the former Soviet Union CASE has been selected to implement a 12 month project to asses the impact of the global financial crisis on public service delivery in former Soviet Union economies. Within the study, CASE experts will analyze the immediate impact of the global financial crisis on two key sectors of public services (education and healthcare) focusing on six economies: Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. | ||||||
 Results of the World Governance Assessment for the Kyrgyz Republic have been publishedWorld Governance Assessment (WGA) is a newly developed tool of measuring governance quality based on a survey of national experts in every country participating in the WGA using a common methodology. This allows basing the assessment on domestic stakeholders’ opinions on governance and, at the same time, to make assessment results comparable across participating countries. The WGA was first conducted in 2001. It was implemented by an international group of research organizations coordinated by the UN University (Tokyo). The first round of assessment covered 23 countries from different parts of the world including Kyrgyzstan. The second round of the assessment was conducted in 2006 using slightly different methodology in the following ten countries and territories: Argentine, Bulgaria, Indonesia, | ||||||
 CASE contribution to ISMF project in SyriaIn December 2006, CASE was subcontracted by the Dutch management consultancy firm, ARCADIS BMB, to conduct a short-term consultancy for the Institutional and Sector Modernization Facility Project in Syria (see www.ismf-syr.org). Marek D±browski visited Damascus from December 16th to 18th, 2006, where he gave a presentation at the ISMF policy roundtable on “The Transition from a Centrally Planned to Market Economy: the Experience of Eastern Europe and FSU.” The presentation analyzed the similarities and differences between “Arab socialism” and Soviet-type socialism and their implications for a strategy of economic reforms. | ||||||
 2006 Annual Report Now Available OnlineThe first few pages of the 2006 Annual Report higlight CASE’s key acheivements in 2006, including: becoming a thought leader on EU relations with the Eastern Neighbourhood, developing into a trusted provider of expertise for the EC and national governments, becoming a key supporter of the Polish government in development assistance through their partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), expanding and diversifying the CASE research team and office staff, increasing revenues and endowment funds, and strengthening network activities. The report also describes the 2006 research program, provides a summary of financial data, and gives information on the numerous events held and publications produced throughout the year. Click here to read the 2006 Annual Report. | ||||||
 ENEPO Conference on Justice and Home Affairs in European Neighbourhood PolicyOn Friday, 30 November, the first conference within the ENEPO project, co-organized by CASE and CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), will be held at the CEPS headquarters in Brussels. The conference will focus on issues of migration. For more information about the conference, click here: The Wider Area of Freedom, Security and Justice At the conference, one of the latest papers written within the ENEPO project, which appeared this month in the 'CASE Network Studies and Analyses' series, will be presented by its author, Nicole Wichmann. In the paper, entitled "The Intersection between Justice and Home Affairs and the European Neighborhood Policy," Wichmann discusses the underlying logic and objectives attributed to cooperation in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), which can be derived from the viewpoints voiced during the formation of the ENP. She argues that despite the existence of different logics, there is a unifying objective, which is to ‘extra-territorialise’ the management of ‘threats’ to neighbouring countries. The core of the paper presents the various policy measures that have been put in place to achieve external ‘threat management.’ After illustrating this using two case studies (one on the fight against terrorism and one on irregular migration), Wichmann recommends that the EU draft an Action-Oriented Paper on JHA cooperation with the ENP countries that indicates how the EU intends to balance the conflicting objectives and instruments that are currently present in the JHA provisions of the ENP. | ||||||
 “Need to Speed up EMU Enlargement”This is the conclusion of Marek Dabrowski’s latest e-paper, “EMU Enlargement: A Progress Report,” in which he assesses the unfinished European integration process. The paper provides an overview of candidates’ situations in respect to EMU accession, revisits the pros and cons of adopting a common currency and explores the political economy and politics of EMU enlargement. | ||||||
| Presentation of “EU-Ukraine” report at Polish Senate The authors of the CASE and CASE Ukraine Report “Prospects for EU-Ukraine Relations” presented its major findings at a joint-session of the Committee on EU Affairs and the Foreign Relations Committee of the Polish Senate.
Earlier this month the team presented at a mini-hearing of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade in Brussels as well as a session of the Baltic Intergroup of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The report has also been presented to academic audiences in Berlin (hosted by DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research) and Kyiv (hosted by CASE Ukraine). | ||||||
 Challenges of GlobalizationWe are pleased to inform you that the book based on the CASE 2007 International Conference on Winds of Change: The Impact of Globalization on Europe and Asia held in Kyiv on March 23-24, 2007 was just published. The book entitled "Challenges of Globalization: Imbalances and Growth" and edited by Anders Aslund and Marek D±browski, addresses the growing macroeconomic imbalances and the challenges of globalization and long-term economic growth, with focus on Europe and Asia. Various aspects of macroeconomic imbalances are the theme of the first six chapters. The second part of the book discusses how the capitalist model of economic development, which has delivered all this growth, is developing or should evolve. The last two chapters consider options available to European policymakers to compete with and adjust to the rapidly growing East Asian Tigers and China. | ||||||
 Testing Models of Distributive Politics in Multiparty Systems: The Case of SpainElena Jarociñska, in her most recent studies, focused on an extension of an empirical literature on political economy of intergovernmental transfers to multiparty systems, which are typical for most European countries. | ||||||
 Rostowski named Polish Minister of Finance Jacek Rostowski, one of the founders of CASE and a member of the CASE Supervisory Council, has been named Minister of Finance in the new Polish government. Rostowski is a well-known economist and the author of many academic publications on post-communist transition, European integration, macroeconomic policy and the role of institutions in economic development. He was formerly a professor of economics at the Central European University in Budapest. In the early 1990s, he advised the governments of Poland, Latvia and Russia on macroeconomic policy. Due to his government position, Rostowski has resigned from the CASE Supervisory Council. | ||||||
 Globalization is the great economic and political force of our era. Behind it are: declining costs of communication and transport, the worldwide move towards a liberal market economy and the incorporation of billions of people into the world economy for the first time – argued Martin Wolf, Associate Editor & Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times at the 2007 CASE Conference “Winds of Change: The Impact of Globalization on Europe and Asia”. | ||||||
| Free Trade Agreement with the EU: What Implications for Armenia and Georgia Prepared in the framework of the study on The Economic Feasibility, General Economic Impact and Implications of Free Trade Agreements between the European Union and Armenia and Georgia According to the European Union Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans, CASE and Global Insight are looking in two separate reports at the economic implications of different degrees of integration between the EU and Armenia and the EU and Georgia. Armenia Report; Georgia Report | ||||||
| The Risk Management Approach of the Federal Reserve System - a Model for the European Central Bank? While it first appeared that Europe would not imitate the US in fighting the effects of the financial crisis, a growing number of European governments have now set side money to rescue distressed banks and guarantee private deposit accounts. Is the US a model to copy? The question was at the core of CASE policy research seminar on 20 October when Magdalena Malinowska addressed The Risk Management Approach of the Federal Reserve System - a Model for the European Central Bank? | ||||||
 Euro Area: Current Account ImbalancesA real appreciation of the euro against the currencies of its main trading partners appears to have a substantial effect on the Euro area’s net exports in the long run, though the immediate effect is small – argue Alan Ahearne, Brigit Schmitz and Juergen von Hagen in the Studies and Analyses paper no. 345 entitled: Current Account Imbalances in the Euro Area. The authors find that the adjustment to a real appreciation of the euro would not be equally distributed across Euro area countries. In particular, Germany would bear the largest share of the adjustment, while the other Euro area economies would be relatively unaffected. | ||||||
 Receive the latest E-briefs! You can now receive e-briefs in your inbox. Each month, CASE publishes concise articles providing insight into the most recent global economic issues. E-Brief 09/2009 The Baltic Conundrum explored the path of the Baltic States into their current crisis, reflected on the appropriateness of past decision and the options that lay ahead. “If international finance and macroeconomics are now to be redesigned, ‘the Baltic Conundrum’ should be kept in mind,” concluded the authors. “Here, we have a group of countries that suffered disproportionately from the effects of the global economic crisis, despite having done ‘most things right’.” In order to subscribe to CASE E-briefs please send an email to: | ||||||
 Recent seminar with Dr. Richard Pomfret"The agricultural sector in Kazakhstan experienced declining output throughout the 1990s, partly because relative prices shifted from being distorted in favour of farmers to being distorted against them. Only after the end of the decade did public policy shift towards support for agriculture. This support was boosted by a billion-dollar Agriculture and Food Program for 2003-5 which was made possible by booming oil revenues,” says Dr. Richard Pomfret, a Professor of Economics at the University of Adelaide, Australia and a Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center in Italy in his recent paper: ‘Using Energy Resources to Diversify the Economy: Agricultural Price Distortions in Kazakhstan’. Dr. Pomfret presented the paper at the CASE Policy Research Seminar on 4 December. He estimated producer support equivalents for the main agricultural products in Kazakhstan since 1990, and analyzed the consequences of shifts in farm support policy. Picture: Richard Pomfret (by Robin Mills, News from the University of Adelaide) | ||||||
 Reforming the Ukrainian State and Improving the Business ClimateIn spite of the impressive economic growth recorded in the first decade of the 2000s, Ukraine is not a business-friendly country. In this two page brief, Dr. Marek Dabrowski explains why and suggests specific institutional and political reforms needed to modernize the country. Click here to view: E-brief 2007/8 | ||||||
 Poland: Reviewing Public Expenditure, Reforming the Social SectorOn May 17, 2010, CASE hosted World Bank Senior Economist Kaspar Richter, CASE Fellow Mateusz Walewski, and World Bank Country Manager for Poland and the Baltic States, Thomas Laursen, for a Policy Research Seminar to discuss the issue of public expenditure and social reform in Poland. Thomas Laursen introduced the release of the annual World Bank Public Expenditure Review, Kaspar Richter’s presentation outlined the findings of the report and commentary on its findings and recommendations was provided by Mateusz Walewski. View Kaspar Richter’s presentation and the full text Public Expenditure Review. | ||||||
 Financial and Political Crisis in Ukraine, CASE Policy Research SeminarDr. Anders Aslund, keynote speaker at the CASE Policy Research Seminar, June 4, 2009, discussed the heated issue of the current “Financial and Political Crisis in Ukraine”. Aslund’s presentation contained findings from his recently published book, How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy, as well as from the latest developments in Ukrainian events. Recognizing the amount of damage Ukraine has experienced as a result of the global financial crisis, he believes that the nation has reached an “early bottom,” and is soon to embark upon a path to recovery. | ||||||
 Positive surprises for Polish economy?On 27 May the new issue of the Polish Economic Outlook was presented at the CASE headquarter. The first quarter was marked by a number of surprises, mostly positive, suggesting that the strength of the economy and its resilience to withstand the global slowdown is better than we expected. One of the reasons is that Polish banks are little exposed to US credit markets. | ||||||
 Russia at a crossroads“Putin has had luck, but he has done very little for Russia,” said Anders Aslund, during a CASE Policy Research Seminar, June 7, 2010. Dr. Aslund discussed Russia after the global financial crisis. The speaker described the shocking outcomes of the crisis on the Russian economy and the key concerns the country now faces. Putin’s severe mismanagement of the economy, coupled with the hardship brought on by the crisis, have left Russia at a crossroads where sustaining the status quo is no longer an option. | ||||||
 Business Environment ConstraintsThe effect of business environment on a firm’s performance and analysts’ ability to identify this effect are more limited than has been assumed to date. Jan Svejnar, Director of the International Policy Center at the University of Michigan and Simon Commander, Senior Adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Director of the Centre for New and Emerging Markets at London Business School analyzed a large stratified random sample of firms to identify measures of performance and perceptions of business environment constraints. Their analysis brings into question the conventional wisdom explaining the relationship between business constraints and performance. Click here to read the abstract and full report: Do Institutions, Ownership, Exporting and Competition Explain Firm Performance? | ||||||
 Key competences in education in the EU-27The kick-off meeting for one of CASE’s newest projects, Cross-curricular key competences and teacher education is taking place on Thursday and Friday at CASE. The project is being led by CASE, with the participation of a number of international experts from other European institutions. The team will measure the extent that "key competences for lifelong learning", as defined by the European Parliament in Lisbon in December 2006, are being implemented in primary and secondary schools across the EU-27 countries. For more on the project, see the project page here: EU-27: Key Competences and Teacher Education | ||||||
| Seeking Fellow nominations CASE is seeking nominations of highly qualified researchers to join the network of CASE Fellows. Candidates should be experts in one or more of the following fields: labor market, social policy (including pension and other social welfare systems), international migration, health economics, education studies, EU regional and cohesion policy. More information about the opportunity. | ||||||
 Moldova: Reform, European Integration and Transnistrian conflict resolutionOn July 3rd CASE was proud to present a seminar led by Dr. Kalman Mizsei, the EU Special Representative to the Republic of Moldova. Dr. Mizsei spoke of several issues ranging from the integration of Moldova into the EU, a necessary deepening of the democratic process there, and on the hot topic of the unresolved conflict with the secessionist sect in Transnistria. The diplomatic view on the situation from the perspective of the European Union was a great honor for CASE to host. | ||||||
 CASE Launches New "E-briefs" Publication SeriesThe series provides a way for CASE scholars publicize to the results of their latest research and provide insight into current policy debates in a format that is accessible to an educated, non-specialist readership. E-briefs are directed towards policy-makers, journalists, business leaders and the general public. In the latest in this series, Dr. Przemys³aw Wozniak considers the effects of the 2004 European Union enlargement on price levels in the EU and highlights the most important policy implications. Click here to view: When Can We Expect Price Convergence in the Enlarged EU? | ||||||
 Conference Highlight: How Can the EU Emulate the Positive Features of the East Asian Model?“Three advantages of the East Asian model stand out: small social transfers, low taxation and free labor markets. The superiority of such policies is now widely accepted, and the question is how they can be emulated by Europe.” This was the question posed by Anders Åslund of the Peterson Institute of International Economics during the Winds of Change conference. See the latest publication in the 'CASE Studies and Analyses' series to read his recommendations for how Europe can follow the East Asian model of sustainable high economic growth. | ||||||
 Polish Economic Outlook 1/2007: Special Topic – Poland, the Euro and the Maastricht criteriaThe latest edition of PEO rates 2006 as a year in which economic growth exceeded expectations, reaching the highest yearly rate since 1997. The outlook for the Polish economy looks positive in both the short and medium terms. Forecasts show GDP growth will remain high (above 6%) in 2007, largely due to strong domestic demand, though it is expected to slow by 2008. | ||||||
 Ukraine Report Presented to European ParliamentThe CASE report “Prospects for EU-Ukraine relations” has garnered much interest among EU parliamentarians and officials involved in policy decisions on Europe’s ‘Eastern neighborhood.’ The presentation comes at a very appropriate time, as Ukraine and the EC are just beginning discussions on the trade agreement. Malgorzata Jakubiak, one of the authors of the report, recently presented its main findings at a mini-hearing of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament in Brussels. The report was previously presented in Strasbourg at a session of the Baltic Intergroup of the European Parliament by Jakubiak and Vitaliy Vavryshuck of CASE Ukraine. | ||||||
 The New EU Frontier: Perspectives on Enhanced Economic IntegrationThis newest CASE Report aims to identify the best forms of enhanced economic integration between the EU and Ukraine, Russia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria, from the EU perspective. The authors review existing forms of integration and evaluate the various institutional options for further integration over the next five to ten years. The effects of increased integration are evaluated in terms of trade in goods and services and migration. The authors conclude by recommending areas to prioritize in future cooperation agreements and pointing out where business opportunities will open up for EU partners. | ||||||
 New CASE report on Trade Integration in South East EuropeThe development of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign trade is being hindered by domestic problems related to the economic and institutional framework, investment climate and conditions for entrepreneurship. Regional trade integration offers several benefits, but it takes time for its effects to translate into an improved foreign trade record. These are the conclusions of the new CASE report: | ||||||
 Conference Highlight: The Economic Development of Africa“In the 1960s, the studies of development scholars like Gunnar Myrdal were predicting that Asia, not Africa, would be the problem. Africa had a lot of resources…The problem was going to be Asia with huge populations, very dense economies and very few development prospects. How was that prediction so wrong?” asked Alan Gelb, the World Bank's Director of Development Policy during the CASE and CASE Ukraine Winds of Change conference in March. Gelb outlined the key economic challenges facing sub-Saharan Africa and outlined a scenario for improving the competitiveness of the region, while also touching on some of the political economy issues of the region's continuing evolution. Excerpts from Alan Gelb’s speech will be soon available for online viewing on the Winds of Change webpage. To see pictures from this and other sessions, please see the Conference Photo Gallery. | ||||||
 Winds of Change Conference is a SuccessCASE and CASE Ukraine successfully co-hosted the International WINDS of CHANGE Conference on March 23rd and 24th in Kyiv, Ukraine. Two hundred outstanding researchers, policymakers and representatives of international organizations and financial institutions representing over 30 countries attended the conference in the Ukrainian capital. Throughout the two-day event, panelists and participants maintained a lively and stimulating discussion on the causes and consequences of the Eastward shift in economic power and considered the potential policy options available. | ||||||
| CASE participates in International workshop on the Knowledge Economy Prof. Anna Wziatek-Kubiak will present her report "The situation of a transforming country - the example of Poland" at a conference at the University of Dortmund on March 15 - 16. The conference is entitled "Low-Technology: Innovativeness, Development and Perspectives in the Knowledge Economy". | ||||||
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