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on Confederation of Independent States |
| By: | Herzfeld, Thomas; Huffman, Sonya K.; Oskam, Arie; Rizov, Marian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the changes in nutritional behavior of Russian adults over the ten-year transition period, between 1994 and 2004. We present evidence on the impact of individual as well as regional characteristics on changes in fat, protein, alcohol and cigarette consumption, and on diversity of diet. The results from a dynamic empirical model suggest that among microeconomic determinants, initial levels of consumption, gender, holding a university degree, and having access to a garden plot have a significant impact on the changes in consumption behavior in Russia. Regarding the macroeconomic variables, economic growth has a significant impact on changes in fat and protein consumption and on alcohol use, while unemployment changes significantly impact protein intake, alcohol consumption and the diversity of diet. |
| Keywords: | consumption, smoking, alcohol, economic transition, Russia, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49239&r=cis |
| By: | R. L. Bruno; M. Bytchkova; S. Estrin |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:650&r=cis |
| By: | Bazhanov, Andrei; Belyaev, Alexander |
| Abstract: | We compare the short- and the long-run consequences of Russia's Energy Strategy to 2020 and of the project of the Strategy to 2030 with a hypothetical scenario of the weak-sustainable oil extraction, starting from 2008 and providing asymptotically constant per capita consumption in the long run. The problem was examined by Andreeva, Bazhanov (2007) and Bazhanov, Tyukhov (2008) for the closed Dasgupta-Heal-Solow-Stiglitz model. In this paper, we show that the open-economy assumptions do not change the qualitative results of comparative analysis, which are not in favor of the Strategy in the long run. |
| Keywords: | weak sustainability; nonrenewable essential resource; Russia's Energy Strategy; open economy |
| JEL: | Q38 Q32 O22 Q01 O21 Q43 |
| Date: | 2009–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15109&r=cis |
| By: | Gerasimchuk, Ivetta |
| Abstract: | Russia’s direct investment of about USD 3 billon in Southern Africa over the past decade has placed before the country’s government and corporate sector two choices in the accelerating race among foreign investors into Africa. The first choice is to follow the established path of direct investment from developed economies that has, in the words of a famous African leader Walter Rodney, ‘underdeveloped Africa’ and involved a serious negative environmental impact. The second choice is one that corresponds with the former Soviet Union’s policy of mutually advantageous cooperation with Africa. In the current context, this will prove possible only through joint cooperation to achieve environmental sustainability and economic diversification requiring long-term planning and innovation. The purpose of this interdisciplinary empirical research paper is to investigate the current and future state of environmental practices in joint ventures between Russia and Southern Africa as compared with other patterns of cooperation among emerging market economies. |
| Keywords: | Russia; FDI; investment; Southern Africa; SADC; sustainable development; leapfrogging development; natural resources |
| JEL: | Q32 P33 O55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15151&r=cis |
| By: | Paul Mosley (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Altay Mussurov |
| Abstract: | The extent of poverty reduction has varied enormously during the recovery period across the eighty-three regions of Russia, with some regions continuing to experience increases in poverty even though they have returned to growth. We attempt to understand and analyse the reasons for this regional variation. We focus on two principal causative factors: the changes in economic structure resulting from the liberalisation of the economy, and policy instruments aimed at poverty reduction. We find that many regions which experienced structural change under perestroika (notably those benefiting from the current oil and gas boom) experienced massive growth in GDP but little poverty reduction, because their prevailing production function is capital-intensive and thus they were unable to transmit much or any reduction in poverty through the labour market. Regions where the growth of the early 2000s was diversified, was based more on the service sector, and where the educational system made possible flexibility within the labour market, tended to be more effective at generating poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | Russia, poverty, regional analysis |
| JEL: | I32 P26 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2009006&r=cis |
| By: | Lerman, Zvi; Sedik, David J. |
| Abstract: | Farms in Tajikistan currently face a severe debt crisis that has been caused by a combination of two factors typical of such situations in many countries: (a) the inability of the farms to make a profit under current conditions and (b) continued lending by the banks to cotton producers regardless of reduced payment capacity and lack of credit-worthiness. The paper traces the accumulation of farm debt in Tajikistan to pervasive government intervention in both financing and production decisions, which has led to soft budget constraints and moral hazard behavior. The purpose of the paper is to inform the debate around the issue of cotton farm debt in Tajikistan by studying the experience of other countries that had to contend with farm debt overhangs in the 1980s and the 1990s. Five CIS transition countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine) and one market economy (Israel) are studied using time series of aggregate financial reports of the farm sectors. The comparative analysis shows that the farm debt issue is not strictly a transition economy phenomenon. The problem can occur in market economies (e.g., Israel) if the state pursues policies directed toward the expansion of farm production without heed to creditworthiness of the farms and if the farm structure is incompatible with profitability and efficiency criteria. The basic reasons that led to debt accumulation in CIS and in Israel remain valid to this day, and the policy solutions implemented in these countries are relevant for Tajikistan. |
| Keywords: | Farm debt, transition economies, Tajikistan, CIS, Israel, farm restructuring, agricultural reforms, Agricultural Finance, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Q140, P210, P320, G300, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea09:49253&r=cis |