Alan Mulhern

Inter-Regional Migration in Transition Economies: The Case of Poland

The Harris-Todaro model of migration is modified to incorporate the impact of human capital, housing stock and the availability of publicly provided goods like health care and road provision in order to analyse the determinants of migration in different regions of Poland. The Seemingly Unrelated Regression Equation [SURE] model is used to investigate the data. The results show that GDP per capita, unemployment and distance have a strong effect on regional migration in this country. Human capital is also an important explanatory factor as is the provision of key publicly provided facilities such as roads. The lack of housing in Poland is important in explaining the low levels of internal migration.

Venezuelan small businesses and the economic crisis: reflections from Europe

Examines the general macroeconomic crisis of the Venezuelan economy outlining its recent history and the seriousness of the present situation and points out how this crisis is especially serious for small firms. Presents information on the current state of small firms in Venezuela ‐ their importance in the economy and the current policy towards them. Points to the historical strategy of running the Venezuelan economy with the emphasis being on large state organizations, and emphasizes the neglect of a coherent and consistent policy for small firms, especially those in the informal sector. By way of contrast, looks at SMEs in the EU, their role in the economy and policy towards them. Finally reflects on some similarities between the EU and Venezuelan small firms. Emphasizes that the EU policy orientation towards the creation of a fairer competitive environment within which SMEs can flourish has much to offer Venezuela (and other less developed countries) which wish to develop more favourable internal conditions for small firm development.

Spanish inter-regional migration: an enigma resolved

This article demonstrates that Spanish inter-regional migration, for many years unresponsive to traditional explanatory variables, is now explicable in terms of such variables. These include gaps in real wages, unemployment and distance. In the middle of the 1990s, there arose an increased responsiveness of regional migration to such explanatory variables.

Determinants of intended expansion of Polish small firms

Abstract This paper investigates the determinants of Polish small firms’ intentions to expand production in the context of possible economic expansion on accession to the EU. Using a non-linear specification, a model is developed using 27 explanatory variables derived from a questionnaire given to Polish small firms in late 1999. Seven of these variables are found to be significant, namely: the existence of export and franchising activity, a recent increase in fixed assets, the difficulty in obtaining a bank loan, the level of human capital, the technological level of the firm’s products and the estimated proportionate change in income from 1997 to 1999. Significant catch-up gains exist for small but fast growing firms.

Long and Short Run Determinants of Small and Medium Size Enterprise Share: The Case of Venezuelan Manufacturing

Two recent studies of SME share determination have employed a partial adjustment model which specifies disequilibrium as the sole means of explanation. Contemporaneous information is found to be crucial in both analyses and suggests forward looking behaviour in the equilibrium specification. Time series data available for Venezuela allows the testing of such an equilibrium using the Engle and Granger (1987) error correction methodology. We find that current dated variables are important in the short rather than long run determination of SME shares and that only information known at the time the equilibrium is formed enters the long run component. The primary factors explaining equilibrium share are barriers to entry, factor mix, enterprise modernisation and a new exogenous proxy variable, GDP. The main determinants of short run movements are factor mix and enterprise modernisation.