Laura Solanko and Merja Tekoniemi, A Tale of Two City-States: Novgorod and Pskov in the 1990s, DP 14/2000.

Despite common histories, geography, and natural resources, the Russian cities of Novgorod and Pskov chose different paths during transition. Novgorod committed early on to policies that would attract foreign investments in production; Pskov adopted protectionist policies until it was clear that efforts to increase domestic and foreign investment levels were needed. The differences between the two cities show that policies at the regional level matter.

Sandra Dvorsky, Measuring Central Bank Independence in Selected Transition Countries and the Disinflation Process, DP 13/2000.

This study measures the degree of legal and actual central bank independence (CBI) in five Central and Eastern European transition economies striving for EU accession (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia). It finds that that the level of legal central bank independence is high in all five countries and that the level of actual central bank independence, measured by the turnover rate of central bank governors, is used as a proxy to measure actual CBI. The paper concludes that the overall degree of legal CBI is comparatively high in all countries examined.

Vadims Sarajevs, Money Shocks in a Small Open Economy with Dollar-ization, Factor Price Rigidities, and Nontradeables, DP 12/2000.

Tuomas Komulainen and Jukka Pirttilä, Fiscal Explanations for Inflation: Any Evidence from Transition Economies? DP 11/2000.

R. E. Ericson and B. W. Ickes, A Model of Russia’s "Virtual Economy," DP 10/2000.