Building Market Institutions

DIVOffers a new political explanation for the creation of market institutions as it investigates Russia's transition from a command economy /div

Editors David Macey, William Pyle, and Stephen Wegren, with a host of world-leading agrarian analyst and practitioners, unravel the shortcomings surrounding post-communist agrarian reform and answers how and why particular policies were adopted in Eurasia. Building Market Institutions in Post-Communist Agriculture draws on country-level case studies to analyze a range of initiatives that institutions have applied to agricultural economies. In this edited collection, contributors use a comparative analytical framework to project a universal process of agrarian transformation that continues to change the social, economic, and political characteristics of this part of the world.

'Institutions fix the confines of and impose form upon the activities of human beings.' --Walton Hamilton, 'Institutions', 1932. The 'World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets' undertakes the complex issue of the basic institutions needed for markets to function properly. This year's 'World Development Report' goes beyond a simple examination of institutional structure and explores the functions of institutions. Recognizing that one size does not fit all, the report asks what do all institutions which support markets do? The answer is simple: Institutions channel information, define and enforce property rights, and increase or prevent competition. Understanding the functions that current institutions and their proposed replacements would provide is the first step. The report contends that once you have identified the institutional functions that are missing, you can then build effective institutions by following some basic principles: - Complement what exists already - in terms of other supporting institutions, human capacities, and technology. - Innovate to suit local norms and conditions. Experimenting with new structures can provide a country with creative solutions that work. - Connect communities of market players through open information flows and open trade. Open trade and information flows create demand for new institutions and improve the functioning of existing structures. - Compete among jurisdictions, firms, and individuals. Increased competition creates demand for new institutions as old ones lose their effectiveness. It also affects how people behave - improving institutional quality. These broad lessons and careful analyses, which links theory with pertinent evidence, are provided in the report. 'World Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets' contains selected 'World Development Indicators'.

Labour market institutions, including collective bargaining, the regulation of employment contracts and social protection policies, are instrumental for improving the well-being of workers, their families and society. In many countries, these instituti

Annotation A study of impediments to investment and private sector development in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro, this title yields fundamental new insights for improving the region's business environment, economic development, and prospects for growth. It is a collaborative effort between the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development that offers important practical ideas for all policymakers and observers concerned with the future of South Eastern Europe. It makes concrete recommendations for reforms that would ease the constraints on domestic and foreign investment, an essential step in sustaining growth and reducing poverty in the region.