Agricultural policy in Czechoslovakia has aimed at three objectives. First, agriculture was to be socialized, with private production replaced by the collective farm or jednotne zemedelske druztvo (JZD), or by the state farm. Second, agriculture was to become more productive. Finally, planners have sought to eliminate regional differences in the productivity of agriculture. This process required the raising of productivity in the Slovak Socialist Republic to the level attained in the Czech Socialist Republic. The collectivization of agriculture in Czechoslovakia began in 1949 on the basis of the Unified Cooperatives Act of February 23. Once collectivization was completed, attention turned to increasing the productivity of agriculture. While the rationalization of both JZDs and state farms appears to be consistent with the goals of the planners to mechanize agriculture and to create an agro-industrial complex, the relative stability of the share of land, labor and other resources allocated to these two forms of organization is somewhat surprising.

We examine the extent to which workers in transition and developed market economies are able to obtain wages that fully reflect their skills and labor force characteristics. We find that workers in two transition economies, the Czech Republic and Poland, are able to better attain the maximum wage available than are workers in a sample of developed market economies. This greater wage-setting efficiency in the transition economies appears to be more the result of social and demographic characteristics of the labor force than of the mechanisms for setting wages or of labor market policies.

INTRODUCTION:The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently declared that central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CLABs) are preventable and no longer reimbursable. The new penalty paradigm creates substantial economic incentives for hospitals to eliminate infections. Modeling exercises offer the opportunity to justify expenditures for the prevention of rare patient safety events.METHODS:We constructed a decision analytic model of the theoretical impact of an educational intervention to improve the safety of central venous catheter insertion. This methodology allows for decision nodes representing procedure urgency, procedure locations, and effects of education on both infectious and mechanical complications. We performed deterministic sensitivity analyses to estimate effects of changes in complication rates, educational impact, and cost.RESULTS:In an already safety system (CLAB rate of 1:1000 line days or 0.7%), the initial sensitivity results suggest that if education results in a 50% reduction in CLAB and a 25% reduction in mechanical complications, survival is equal, and cost is increased by $92,400 in a large hospital system annually. If all CLAB and mechanical complications are eliminated, survival improves slightly, and cost is reduced by $64,800 annually.CONCLUSIONS:These results suggest that if the educational intervention is effective, a small increase in cost can reduce complications. Our analysis does not consider increased revenue generated by virtual bed capacity increases or dynamic changes in practice. This model serves as a template for other health care institutions to estimate the costs and benefits of their own proposed educational interventions.

We examine the investment behavior of a sample of Polish industrial firms over the period 1991–1993 by means of a model that views investment flows as part of the firm’s effort to adjust its assets and liabilities so as to maximize the returns to the firm. We argue that the application of neoclassical models of investment is more appropriate in cases where net investment is positive and where the returns to other assets and costs of liabilities are stable. If firms are seeking to reduce their capital stock, then the major constraints are not financial but rather set by the speed of physical depreciation. If the returns to other assets or the costs of liabilities change, then the firm will be forced to reconfigure its balance sheet in a way that may be inconsistent with the neoclassical model of investment. This paper examines the adjustments undertaken by Polish firms and shows that firms that did make positive net investments in this period were influenced by their capital intensity, profitability and by their costs of and returns to financial assets. The explanatory power of the model is relatively high when compared to previous studies of the investment behavior of firms in the early years of transition.

We examine the extent to which workers in transition and developed market economies are able to obtain wages that fully reflect their skills and labor force characteristics. We find that workers in two transition economies, the Czech Republic and Poland, are able to better attain the maximum wage available than are workers in a sample of developed market economies. This greater wage-setting efficiency in the transition economies appears to be more the result of social and demographic characteristics of the labor force than of the mechanisms for setting wages or of labor market policies.

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In this paper, we apply a stochastic frontier approach in order to analyze labor market efficiency in Poland – a transition economy and a new entrant to the European Union. Wage efficiency is defined as the ratio of a worker’s actual and potential (maximum) wage, given his or her demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Our findings indicate that, on average, in 2001 the full-time hired Polish workers realized 86 percent of their potential earnings. It implies inefficiency in acquiring and processing job market information. At the same time, an international comparison shows that the degree of wage efficiency in Poland was similar to or higher than that in other developed countries. Our attempt to identify the determinants of wage efficiency in Poland produced mixed results. However, in sum, worker performance in the Polish labor market seems to be rewarded appropriately, with some typical-for-Europe degrees of inefficiency in acquiring information, by a standard of wage efficiency and proximity to the wage frontier.

Analyzes the wage structure and wage distribution for male and female Polish workers during a more mature phase of a transition to a market economy, namely 1994‐2001. The results indicate an overall rise in earnings inequality for both genders during this period. Contrary to conventional expectations, changes in the composition of employment caused by a deep restructuring process did not have a significant impact on earnings inequality. Throughout this period, the changes in the wage structure and wage distribution were almost entirely due to the changes in returns to worker characteristics. However, does not observe the “explosion of differentials at all levels,” predicted by many leading models on transition. Wage structures for men and women evolved in different ways. This analysis suggests that the effect of changes in labor supply and institutional factors on the wage structure and wage distribution was relatively unimportant. Demand side factors seem to be far more important in explaining the dynamics of earnings inequality in Poland during 1994‐2001.

In this paper we comment on Filer and Hanousek's methodology and conclusions about potential mismeasurement of inflation in the Czech Republic. Specifically, we believe that their procedure assumes away most of the efforts by the Czech Statistical Office to take these sources of bias into account. We also question the way in which they seek to extend their results to other transition economies. Finally, we respond to some concerns they raise regarding our own results.

This paper examines the reliability of macroeconomic price indices in transition economies, and specifically in the Czech Republic. While methodologically sophisticated price indices in mature market economies may be biased, most policy makers believe that this is only a minor problem and that their price indices accurately describe price and thus real macroeconomic dynamics within their economies. However, some observers have argued that similar methods applied in transition economies have created time series that badly distort real and nominal measures of economic activity. If this were the case, then transition price data have misled both the public and policy makers about the true economic performance during transition and have seriously undermined academic research efforts. We examine the major sources of bias in price indices in a transition economy, specify and estimate a model of price formation and identify systematic and random productivity shocks to both the producer price and consumer price indices (PPI and CPI) in the Czech Republic. Between 1993 and 1998 we find that price index biases have been modest. Therefore, we conclude that Czech macroeconomic policy was not, in general, led astray by biased or distorted statistics.

Firm level data are employed to estimate frontier production functions for Czechoslovak industry in 1990 and for Hungarian industry in 1991. In both countries there is evidence of inefficient firms. with the distribution of efficiency characterized by a small number of inefficient outliers. Enterprise efficiency is positively related to firm size and negatively to managerial effort expended in lobbying for easier targets, but export orientation has no effect on efficiency. Most importantly, in Hungary's more reformed economy, efficient firms are more profitable, while profit redistribution by the center in Czechoslovakia led to an inverse relationship between efficiency and profitability.

The World EconomyVolume 17, Issue 4 p. 529-550 The Privatisation Experience in Eastern Europe Thomas J. Hyclak, Thomas J. Hyclak Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorArthur E. King, Arthur E. King Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this author Thomas J. Hyclak, Thomas J. Hyclak Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorArthur E. King, Arthur E. King Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1994 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.1994.tb00840.xCitations: 6AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume17, Issue4July 1994Pages 529-550 RelatedInformation

The World EconomyVolume 17, Issue 4 p. 429-431 Liberalisation and Adjustment in Latin America and Eastern Europe: Editorial Introduction J. Richard Aronson, J. Richard Aronson Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorArthur E. King, Arthur E. King Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorGeraldo M. Vasconcellos, Geraldo M. Vasconcellos Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this author J. Richard Aronson, J. Richard Aronson Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorArthur E. King, Arthur E. King Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this authorGeraldo M. Vasconcellos, Geraldo M. Vasconcellos Professors at Lehigh University, Bethlehem.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1994 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.1994.tb00834.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume17, Issue4July 1994Pages 429-431 RelatedInformation

This paper combines perspectives on nonprofit organizations, clubs and club goods, demand for performing arts, and demand for charitable contributions to consider relationships between nonprofit organizations in the performing arts and their patrons. A broad view is taken of factors influencing demand for club goods, charitable donations, and for the live performing arts. These are integrated in a model of demand for the outputs and services of nonprofits in the performing arts. Data from a single institution is used to test hypotheses. Conclusions are drawn for organizational policy and economic theory.

This paper examines the technical efficiency of state and private farms in Poland for the period 1960-74. We find that the average technical efficiency of the two types of farms does not differ, although the dispersion of efficiency levels is greater among state farms than among private ones. We do find clear evidence of allocative inefficiency, with state farms oversupplied with fertilizer and machinery.

Health EconomicsVolume 1, Issue 1 p. 5-6 Economics of Health Care System North American health care policy in the 1990's: New directions for cost control and improved access Arthur King, Arthur KingSearch for more papers by this authorThomas Hyclak, Thomas HyclakSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Richard Aronson, J. Richard AronsonSearch for more papers by this author Arthur King, Arthur KingSearch for more papers by this authorThomas Hyclak, Thomas HyclakSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Richard Aronson, J. Richard AronsonSearch for more papers by this author First published: April 1992 https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4730010104Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume1, Issue1April 1992Pages 5-6 RelatedInformation

It is often assumed that the process of transition from socialism to capitalism involves a dislocation and disorganization of the economy in the early stages of the transition. Thus, it is argued, economic performance will at first worsen and then gradually improve as the new system takes hold. This paper argues that, based on evidence from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, there is no evidence for such aJ-curve phenomenon. Using a simple macroeconomic model, we show that, in these three reforming countries, the decline in production can be explained by exogenous shocks to the balance of trade, to investments and to autonomous consumption. This finding also suggests that macroeconomic policy in these countries may be too restrictive to permit a recovery of employment and production.

The ability of planners in Poland and the USSR to recognize and act to eliminate market disequilibrium in the markets for grain and meat is tested by means of an econometric model of grain and meat production, consumption and trade. Planners' perceptior s of excess demand for grain, meat and foreign exchange are shown to influence production and trade decisions in a way that tends to reduce excess demand or supply. Nevertheless, the markets for grain, meat and foreign exchange are shown to be characterized by excess demand or supply for much of the sample period.