Labor Market Regulations in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries


Book Description

This paper documents a new database of labor market regulations during 1980-2005 in 91 countries, including low-, middle- and high-income countries, and contains information on unemployment insurance systems, minimum wage regulations, and employment protection legislation. In this paper, we provide details regarding the data, methodology and sources. Descriptive statistics indicate that there exists substantial heterogeneity in labor market institutions across regions and income groupings, and that much of the sample variation is driven by institutional changes over time in low- and middle-income countries. All indicators are at an annual frequency, allowing for the dating of major changes in regulation, and are based on data from a variety of sources, including the ILO, OECD and national agencies.




In the Grip of Transition


Book Description

This book provides a detailed picture of the equity and efficiency of economic restructuring, focusing on the two most important successor states to the Soviet Union. Analysis is based on a careful examination of micro level data, documenting the experiences of workers, households and firms.




European spirit, adaption to market economy and national identity in Poland and Ukraine


Book Description

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: The major objective of this work is besides economic considerations to estimate how far Poland and Ukraine have grown on the social and cultural EI path layer of inter-country convergence which is assumedly even more difficult to achieve than consensus in an economic and political state union - what are the causes of the present state of evolution and what inferences for future transformations steps can be deducted thereof. In terms of more specific terms of reference, so-to-speak research question antedating each chapter of the corpus, the author posed the following hypothesis: In the section about national identities, the embracing question is the following, since it is suspected that the course of history of both nations observed moulded the tangible layers of NC and thus indirectly the development of mental EU convergence: Hypothesis 1: Design and intensity of national identity contribute to Polish and Ukrainian aggregated opinion about their home countries` role on the European theatre and general emotions about the contact to Europe In order to be able to proceed solidly on the territory of BHN, the frame of research is meant to be solidified by retrieving answers to whether the very existence of needs varies across nations or merely their degree of intensity by claiming the following fact: Hypothesis 2: The scan of advertising in Poland (Pl) and Ukraine (Uk) reveals types of human needs which are not part in commonly cited BHN theories; in other words: human needs are culture-specific instead of universal. The structure and intensity of BHN like in the case of other features alongside the N-B-V-A (Needs-Beliefs-Values-Attitudes) axis are a fairly difficult entity to seize; what may be observed and thus measured at utmost is when the bearer satisfies a need by an overt action, e.g. when he buys soap to satisfy his needs of body spruceness. However, purchase decisions are decided by so many factors, e.g. branding, packaging, CRM (Customer Relations Management) etc. that it seems more rewarding to observe what conditions of internal tension are activated by advertising as intermediate entity and possible incentive of acquiring the item promoted. Hypothesis 3: Advertising of fast-moving resp. durable consumer goods delivers indications on single elements of Poles` and Ukrainians` human need structure Experts of transformations studies commonly consider a brisk small-business sector and salubrious [...]