nep-cis New Economics Papers
on Confederation of Independent States
Issue of 2014‒11‒28
six papers chosen by



  1. Impact of regional diversity on production potential: an example of Russia By Belyaeva, Maria; Hockmann, Heinrich; Koch, Friedrich
  2. Политика модернизации сельского хозяйства РФ в рамках обязательств ВТО: К вопросу о нецелесообразности копирования Единой сельскохозяйственной политики ЕС By Petrick, Martin
  3. Government Transfers, Work and Occupational Identity: Evidence from the Russian Old-Age Pension By Louise Grogan; Fraser Summerfield
  4. The Natural Resource Curse and Institutions in Post-Soviet Countries By Roman Horváth; Ayaz Zeynalov
  5. Sometimes, Winners Lose: Economic Disparity and Indigenization in Kazakhstan By Ira N. Gang; Achim Schmillen
  6. The new solutions of the CAP 2013+ to the challenges of the EU member states agriculture By Anonymous; Wigier, Marek; Dudek, Michał

  1. By: Belyaeva, Maria; Hockmann, Heinrich; Koch, Friedrich
    Abstract: Russia is often considered the most prominent country to become a leader on the world grain market. However, several issues slow down Russia’s agricultural progress, for example: a lack of infrastructure and investments, unequal regional development, and inefficient use of production technologies. This study therefore examines the grain production potential of Russian regions by employing a modified approach to stochastic frontier analysis that allows us to include not only production technologies, but also indicators of country’s heterogeneity and diversity among regions. Obtained results indicate that climate conditions in combination with the level of human and institutional development, and infrastructure have significant effect on the production structure of regions and therefore should not be neglected while assessing regional policies and production potential.
    Keywords: Production Economics,
    Date: 2014–05–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa142:168924&r=cis
  2. By: Petrick, Martin
    Abstract: Сегодня одна из важнейших программных задач российского правительства заключается в том, чтобы придать свежий импульс развитию агропромышленного комплекса, не нарушая обязательств, связанных с членством во Всемирной торговой организации (ВТО). Согласно Государственной программе развития сельского хозяйства, одним из главных средств поддержки агропромышленного комплекса является льготное кредитование животноводства, которому в 2013–2020 гг. отведена роль основного получателя субсидий на компенсацию ставок по инвестиционным кредитам. Эти выплаты считают несовместимыми с обязательствами зеленой корзины ВТО, в то время как аналогичные механизмы действуют в рамках Единой сельскохозяйственной политики ЕС (ЕСХП). Российскому правительству, возможно, не составит труда доказать совместимость субсидий с требованиями зеленой корзины, но руководствоваться ЕСХП в вопросах программных реформ, на наш взгляд, нецелесообразно. Структурно-программные компоненты ЕСХП, судя по имеющимся данным, не оправдали надежд, не обеспечив эффективного решения ни одной из целого ряда поставленных задач. Опираясь на данные по Восточной Германии, в данном аналитическом материале утверждается, что реформа институциональной среды сельского хозяйства является по меньшей мере таким же важным условием его успешной модернизации, как и щедрое финансирование.
    Abstract: How to revitalise the agricultural sector under the commitments of membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has emerged as a major policy challenge for the Russian government. According to the current State Programme for the Development of Agriculture, a key support channel is via concessional credits to the livestock sector, which was singled out as the largest recipient of interest subsidies in 2013 - 2020. Currently, these payments are not considered green box compatible under WTO commitments, whereas similar measures within the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are. While the Russian government may face little difficulty in dressing up its investment subsidies to make them look like green box compatible, the CAP is regarded here as a poor guide for policy reform. The available evidence shows that structural policy elements of the CAP were inefficient in reaching any of the manifold goals they were hoped to achieve. Drawing on the example of East Germany, it is argued that reforms of the institutional environment of agriculture are at least as important for successful agricultural modernisation as the generous availability of funding.
    Date: 2014
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamopb:18r&r=cis
  3. By: Louise Grogan (African School of Economics (Bénin) and Dept. of Economics and Finance, University of Guelph (Canada)); Fraser Summerfield (Department of Economics and CELMR, University of Aberdeen (UK); The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis (RCEA), Italy)
    Abstract: This paper examines how the receipt of the age-determined Russian state pension impacts the incomes, working hours, self-reported wellbeing, self-employed home production, and health behaviors of individuals. Household panel data spanning 2006-2011 is employed. Regression discontinuity estimators with individual fixed effects identify the causal impact of attaining state pension age on these outcomes. Attaining pension age has large negative causal impacts on market work hours, but also important positive effects on the self-employment output of women, and negative effects on the non-monetized home production activities of men. No positive impacts are found on any subjective measures of wellbeing or economic security. The results are reconciled by augmenting the standard labor supply theory of Gronau (1977) with new ideas about occupational identities first outlined in Akerlof and Kranton (2000).
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:22_14&r=cis
  4. By: Roman Horváth (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nábreží 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic; IOS, Regensburg); Ayaz Zeynalov (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Smetanovo nábreží 6, 111 01 Prague 1, Czech Republic)
    Abstract: We examine the effect of natural resource exports on economic performance during the 1996-2011 period in the 15 independent countries that formerly comprised the Soviet Union. These countries were a largely homogeneous group with respect to social and institutional context; however, these countries began to demonstrate marked differences from one another with respect to these factors during the transition, which has resulted in unique cross-section and time variation. Using several panel regression models that address the endogeneity and clustering issues, our results suggest that natural resources crowd out manufacturing sector unless the quality of domestic institutions is sufficiently high.
    Keywords: natural resource curse, institutions, manufacturing, post-Soviet countries
    JEL: O11 O13 Q30
    Date: 2014–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2014_24&r=cis
  5. By: Ira N. Gang (Rutgers University); Achim Schmillen (The World Bank)
    Abstract: Several post-Soviet states have introduced policies to improve the relative economic, political or social position of formerly disadvantaged populations. Using one example of such policies – “Kazakhisation” in Kazakhstan – we investigate their impact on the comparative earnings of two directly affected groups, ethnic Russians and ethnic Kazakhs. Oaxaca decompositions show that Kazakhs are better endowed with income generating characteristics but receive lower returns to these characteristics than Russians. The second effect dominates and Kazakhs have comparatively lower average living standards. While “Kazakhisation” may have been successful in a narrow sense – i.e., by empowering Kazakhs to take on leading positions in the public sector – more broadly it has been a self-defeating policy as it has pushed ethnic Russians into jobs that often evolved into positions that (at least in monetary terms) are superior now to those held by Kazakhs.
    Keywords: Ethnicity, Decomposition, Indigenization, Kazakhstan
    JEL: I32 O12 J15
    Date: 2014–09–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rut:rutres:201412&r=cis
  6. By: Anonymous; Wigier, Marek; Dudek, Michał
    Abstract: Global food market – new conditions for national sectors. Flexible adaptation of farms to the requirements of the CAP in the new financial perspective after 2014. Phenomena occurring in agriculture of the EU Central and Eastern European countries after 2004 and conclusions for the future. Programming Process of Rural Development Measures 2014-2020 in Austria. Situation in the Czech agriculture after 9 years of EU accession – a research position to strategic challenges for a future policy after 2013. The new CAP reform: an analysis of impacts at the sub-national level. The case of Tuscany. The state and insurance in agriculture– implications for the CAP 2013+. Foreign exchange hedge. Sustainable development of family farming in Poland. The political aspect. Socio-economic view of the contemporary situation in the Czech agriculture and countryside. Institutions acting for rural development – future challenges. Development of biofuels production and food security – Implications for economic policy. Innovation opportunities in Hungarian agriculture and rural development. Analysis of the actual indicators of competitiveness in the Serbian agricultural sector. Alignment of agricultural and rural development policy in the Western Balkans with the European acquis: cases of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia. Competitiveness of Ukrainian foodstuff. Problems and perspectives of sustainable development in Belarusian Agriculture. The Hungarian horticulture sector: analysis of outdoor and greenhouse farms. Review of some agrostatistical indicators that characterize Bulgarian vegetable production in the context of Common Agricultural Policy. The new solutions
    Keywords: food market, CAP, rural development, agriculture, food security, economic policy, food market, countryside, Europe, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade,
    Date: 2013
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iafepr:164838&r=cis

General information on the NEP project can be found at https://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.