Building the Socialist Balkans

The European Union and State Building in the Western Balkans

This paper examines the feasibility of network governance in the context of the EU's expansion in the Western Balkans. The EU is formally committed to promoting network governance but the realities of enlargement require the creation of effective states, in other words of the primacy of hierarchy over network. Networks are created in enlargement and reflect the complexities of public policy but...

Post-socialist Bank Crises and the Problems of Institution-building

Bank crises are usually the result of dramatic swings in the value of assets held by the banking system. When asset values fall relative to liabilities, banks net worth is eroded, resulting in crisis. Minsky (1977) argues that such asset devaluations are a normal feature of the business cycle in market economies. As confidence builds during the business cycle, more and more agents engage in spe...

Building up a Strategy for De-balkanizing the Balkans: Stability and Prosperity in South Eastern Europe

Environmental changes on the Balkans

Introduction Conclusions References

The State Socialist Mortality Syndrome

Death rates for working-age men in European state socialist countries deviated from general improvements in survival observed in the rest of Europe during the 20th century. The magnitude of structural labor force changes across countries correlates with lagged increases in death rates for men in the working ages. This pattern is consistent with a hypothesis that hyper-development of heavy indus...