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Policy Involvment

Much of the Labor Project's research agenda has been motivated by policy concerns in transition economies, and some of this research has been commissioned by international organizations and governments interested in furthering policy reforms. In cooperation with the OECD, World Bank, and USAID, the Project has been involved in such policy-related research and policy advising in Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.

Cooperation with the World Bank has included more than a dozen policy projects in several East European economies:

  • Two background papers for Regional Productivity Report in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – on determinants of firm level productivity growth and the effect of reallocation on aggregate productivity (2006-2007).
  • Three chapters of the Country Economic Memorandum on Romania - on sources of productivity change, privatization policy analysis, and privatization effects on firm performance (1999-2000).
  • Background paper on job creation in Eastern Europe (2004-2005).
  • Studies of firm demographics in Hungary and Romania (2003-2004).
  • A study of Russian labor markets and policies (2000-2001).
  • Study of Russian ownership and corporate governance (1995-96).
  • Study of worker ownership in Eastern Europe (1994-95).
  • Study of privatization in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1993).
  • Study of Romanian labor markets (1992-1994).

US Agency for International Development has commissioned two studies:

  • Sources of micro-enterprise growth in Romania (2000-2001).
  • Think-Tank Partnership Grant to develop policy-relevant economic research in the CIS (2002-2003).

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also commissioned several Labor Project policy studies:

  • Study of product market competition and productivity growth in Ukraine (2007).
  • Background paper on labor markets and policies in the Baltic States (2001-2002).
  • Background paper on Child Protection and Institutionalization Policies for the Review of Labor Market and Social Policies in Romania (1999).
  • Study of long-term unemployment and social assistance (1996).

Through the Phare ACE and Tacis ACE programmes, the European Commission has funded applied research evaluating privatization policies, corporate governance institutions, and the determinants of enterprise restructuring in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Russia, and Slovakia.

The Commission’s Russian-European Centre for Economic Policy (RECEP) funded research on industrial restructuring and labor market policies in Russia. John Earle was a Senior Expert at RECEP from 1999 to 2001.

Álmos Telegdy has been specialist for the Hungarian labor market in the SYSDEM network of the European Commission (since 2005).

Policy Papers

  • Brown, David, John Earle and Álmos Telegdy, “What Makes ECA Firms Productive? Ownership, Age, Market Structure, and Import Penetration in Georgia, Hungary, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine.” Background paper for the World Bank’s report on productivity in ECA, 2007.
  • Telegdy, Álmos “Unemployment in Hungary. Trends and Policies,” paper prepared for the European Employment Observatory, 2006.
  • Telegdy, Álmos, “Youth Unemployment in Hungary,” paper prepared for the European Employment Observatory, 2005.
  • Telegdy, Álmos, “The Effect of Public Sector Wage Increase on the Relative Wages. Aspects of the Inactivity Rate in Hungary,” paper prepared for the European Employment Observatory, 2005.
  • Telegdy, Álmos, Quarterly Reports for the European Employment Observatory (since 2005).
  • Earle, John, and Álmos Telegdy, “Privatization Policies, Ownership Structure, and Corporate Governance in Romania,” draft paper for the World Bank Country Economic Memorandum on Romania, 2000.
  • Earle, John and Álmos Telegdy, “Industrial Productivity Growth and Decline: Results of Decomposition for Romania," draft paper for the World Bank Country Economic Memorandum on Romania, 2000.
  • Earle, John and Álmos Telegdy, Contribution on "Child Protection and Institutionalization Policies in Romania" with a background paper to OECD Review of Labor Market and Social Policies in Romania, (2000).