Gregory J. Brock

Regional Growth in Russia During the 1990s - What Role Did FDI Play?

Regional economic growth in Russias regions in 1995–2000 is analysed with particular attention paid to FDI and how it influenced growth during this period. FDI appears to have been essential before the 1998 crisis in helping the economy grow despite the initial chaos of the transition. Larger regional economies that have garnered most FDI and perhaps gone further with institutional reforms that can assist in capturing the full benefits of FDI are likely to lead economic growth in the future. All regions need to take advantage now of the favourable economic environment to assess and learn from prior FDI experience to foster future growth should the price of oil and the remaining advantage of a depreciated currency change. No evidence was found that region-wide corruption hindered economic growth in the 1990s.

Wage Determination in Rural Russia: A Stochastic Frontier Model

This article examines wages in rural Russia after the first decade of economic transition using data from a nationally representative household survey. The stochastic frontier analysis reveals that Russias rural labour markets place high value on human capital. The overall level of rural wages, however, is very low, with the median wage 10% below the official subsistence level. The gender pay gap severely depresses womens wages. A woman with the same skills as a man is paid only 47% of the mans wage. Rural workers who receive income from their personal plots accept significantly lower wages. Private firms pay considerably higher wages than state or collectively owned firms, but account only for one fifth of rural workers.

The Cost of Being Black: White Americans’ Perceptions and the Question of Reparations

White Americans have long resisted the idea of reparations to the descendants of slaves. We examine the psychological basis of such resistance, primarily testing the possibility that resistance may be a function of Whites’ perception of the ongoing cost of being Black. White participants (n = 958) across twelve independent samples (varying in age, student status, and geographic location) were asked variations of the question: How much should you be paid to continue to live the remainder of your life as a Black person? Participants generally required low median amounts, less than

The Informal Economy of Veracruz State During the Fox Administration

10,000, to make the race change, whereas they requested high amounts,

Grain and sunflower on Russian farms in 2001: how efficient is crop production?

1,000,000, to give up television. To the extent that larger amounts were requested, support for reparations also increased. Attempts to educate participants about Black cost0White privilege had negligible effects on assessments of the cost of being Black and support for reparations. Together, these results suggest that White resistance to reparations for Black Americans stems from fundamental biases in estimating the true cost of being Black. The implications of our findings for color-blind and multi-culturalist conceptual approaches are discussed.

Intercity Industrial Performance and Public Finance in Moscow Region, 1993-1995--Just a Lot of Company Towns?

Using recently available night lights and electricity consumption data for the 212 municipios (counties) of Veracruz state in southern Mexico, the informal economy is analyzed at the Mexican county level for the first time with such data. Most counties between 2000 and 2006 are found to have growing informal economies though the richest county, Boca Del Rio, exhibits a decline in informality suggesting a few wealthier counties may behave differently. Counties have a larger formal economy if they are in northern areas, have higher literacy rates, and more indigenous people. The informal economy appears to have reversed its declining share of total economic activity towards more growth during the Fox era though the regional government of Veracruz remained in the hands of the PRI perhaps limiting federal reform efforts.

Exploring a Regional Technical Efficiency Frontier in the Former USSR

An unusually detailed sample of large farms in Rostov, Ivanovo and Nizhny Novgorod regions of Russia in 2001 allows microeconomic examination of the production of grain and sunflower crops on Russian farms. Farms are found to have some excess capital and labour, but not land and other types of capital. New operators are found to be more efficient than other farms thought they do not necessarily produce more output. Neither rural infrastructure, location nor specialisation has a clear impact on farm efficiency. How workers are paid is found to be a potential short‐term method for improving farm efficiency that would not involve major farm restructuring.

The Intra-Regional Economy Of Veracruz Province: What Can The Municipios Tell Us?

Applying a stochastic industrial production function at the aggregate city level for 72 cities in a single Russian region reveals industry in a variety of cities is quite similar in the ability to produce gross industrial output efficiently during the early transition era 1993-95. Weak evidence is found for cities becoming more diverse in industrial performance during the period. Using additional inefficiency impact variables, some evidence was found for a more diversified industrial base and more locally retained profit tax revenue improving efficiency among cities in a given year, suggesting more diversified cities may perform better than a one-company town in the transition era. The hypothesis of an urban agglomeration effect improving efficiency found in the literature was rejected using distance and population density variables.

Growth in Russia’s Federal Districts, 1994-2003

Using 1971–90 panel data from a Siberian province, two econometric methods are used side by side to examine technical inefficiency with a suggestion as to how the methods might be used in sequence. Estimates derived from a random effects method reveal that technical inefficiency is both substantial and not time invariant. Results using either a random or fixed effects method suggest that existing estimates of technical inefficiency in centrally planned economies may be biased downward because of the choice of the estimation method. Using either method, the increasing technical inefficiency found is likely to be one cause of the decline in the performance of centrally planned economies and their regions.

The Long Run Industrial Growth of Veracruz State, 1955-2008

A stochastic production function analysis of the 212 regions of Veracruz province in southern Mexico reveals some inefficiency in manufacturing, mining, trade and service sectors in recent years. Poverty indices appear to influence a region’s ability to combine capital and labor to create output and value added in some years indicating a reduction in poverty could contribute to job growth and putting idle capital back to work at the local level. With the agricultural crisis in the province, high population centers have been able to absorb some of the workers and exhibit relative higher productivity in both goods and services. Efficiency indices by county can be used to guide tax sharing and expenditure responsibilities within provinces.