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"Ofer, Gur"
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Abram Bergson: The Life of a Comparativist1,2
Abram Bergson is best known for his monumental work of creating the methodology and estimating Soviet GNP, its structure and its rate of growth. This work culminated but did not end with his 1961 Volume on The Real National Income of Soviet Russia Since 1928. The present paper is devoted to another major effort of Bergson, the evaluation of the comparative efficiency of the socialist system, relative to market, capitalist systems. Starting from theoretical considerations of welfare economics, Bergson defined the two models and their respective objective functions. Rejecting the possibility of reaching a judgment on the basis of theory alone, Bergson concluded that the real test of the comparison is in the implementation of the two systems on the ground. This paper follows the evolution of Bergson's work and thinking on this subject over the years, with the accumulation of theoretical and methodological considerations and of empirical evidence. It discovers great care, objective judgments, as well as deep hesitations before making such judgments. The final judgment was of course in the right direction, but it did not lead him to foresee the demise of the socialist system. Bergson titled his autobiographical notes (1991) ‘Recollections and Reflections of a Comparativist’, and a very careful comparativist he indeed was. Comparative Economic Studies (2005) 47, 240–258. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100109
Journal Article
Selecting your Surgeon: the Private-Public Mix in Public Hospitals in Jerusalem; Considerations of Efficiency and Equity
The question of whether to permit private medical services (dubbed SHARAP) in government hospitals is one of the most controversial issues in Israeli health care today, with parallels in European countries. Under the Israeli National Health Insurance Law, all residents that are entitled to free medical care included in a defined \"basket\" of services. This basket excludes the choice of surgeon for hospital services, such as surgical operations. However, people can pay for this choice out-of-pocket or through supplementary insurance. Such surgical procedures can take place in private facilities, often by publicly employed surgeons during their after work hours. Most of the public hospitals in Israel forbid such \"private\" operations on their premises. However, in three Jerusalem public, non-profit hospitals, choice of surgeons is allowed under long-standing SHARAP programs. This study explores the functioning of surgical care in these hospitals, in order to contribute empirically based evidence to the above mentioned debate. The study is based on administrative data of the three hospitals on about 37 000 operations carried out in the year 2001, 16 percent of which were in the SHARAP program. The study analyzes and discusses the implications of SHARAP for equity, efficiency and freedom of choice. It finds, first, that most SHARAP activity is for relatively routine procedures. Second, that despite SHARAP, nearly all the public complex operations are performed by teams that include very senior surgeons. Finally, the study finds that the costs to the majority of patients for most operations are reasonable, especially when covered by supplementary insurance, which most people hold. On the other hand, SHARAP appears to continue to be beyond the reach of most low-income persons. Moreover, by opting for SHARAP, patients do increase the likelihood that a very senior surgeon will be the surgeon-of-record, and this does have implications for health care equity. (JEL classification: I18, I32) Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Journal Article
Switching Development Strategies and the Costs of Transition: The Case of the Soviet Union and Russia
A short way that is long and a long one that is short.
Reference
The Role of FDI in Trade and Financial Services in Transition: What Distinguishes Transition Economies from Developing Economies?
Modern commercial sectors create backward linkages that encourage quality and cost effective production, while financial institutions create forward linkages that help to impose efficient governance structures throughout the economy. The latter are also crucial for FDI in other branches of the economy. The so-called banks and commercial organizations created in socialist times are part and parcel of the old system, where they performed mostly mechanical functions and hence lack the know-how, skills and proper incentives needed in a market economy. They therefore hinder, rather than help transition. The large urban sector and the complex production sector in transition economies which is in dire need of its restructuring, require fast development of such services. This is why FDI in these services is potentially so important to the transformation process.
Following a theoretical introduction and the exposition of the main argument, the paper examines the quality of policies and market infrastructure that enhance or create barriers to FDI in general and to financial and commercial sectors in particular, with special emphasis to indicators of law and order. We use indices developed by the EBRD, Transparency International and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) to quantify these obstacles, and find that some indices provide satisfactory explanations for the structure of FDI.
Journal Article
Abram Bergson: The Life of a Comparativist
Abram Bergson is best known for his monumental work of creating the methodology and estimating Soviet GNP, its structure and its rate of growth. This work culminated but did not end with his 1961 Volume on
The Real National Income of Soviet Russia Since 1928
. The present paper is devoted to another major effort of Bergson, the evaluation of the comparative efficiency of the socialist system, relative to market, capitalist systems. Starting from theoretical considerations of welfare economics, Bergson defined the two models and their respective objective functions. Rejecting the possibility of reaching a judgment on the basis of theory alone, Bergson concluded that the real test of the comparison is in the implementation of the two systems on the ground. This paper follows the evolution of Bergson's work and thinking on this subject over the years, with the accumulation of theoretical and methodological considerations and of empirical evidence. It discovers great care, objective judgments, as well as deep hesitations before making such judgments. The final judgment was of course in the right direction, but it did not lead him to foresee the demise of the socialist system. Bergson titled his autobiographical notes (1991) ‘Recollections and Reflections of a Comparativist’, and a very careful comparativist he indeed was.
Journal Article
Modern Economics Education in TEs: Technology Transfer to Russia
The transfer of an academic body of knowledge is clearly distinct for an ordinary, commercial TT. In the same way the transfer to TEs is different from the same process targeted to developing countries, where most of the literature on TT concentrates. While parts of the discussion are applicable to the TT of economic education in general and to all TEs, the paper concentrates mostly on the higher education, and on the case of Russia. The analysis shows that Russia made substantial progress to translate introductory and intermediate economics textbooks and to develop BA economics programs. At the same time Russia experiences strong deficit of teachers in economics even for the undergraduate courses. The base for the reform of graduate teaching is not yet created. There are very few properly developed Master programs in Russia not to mention the PhD level. The main obstacles for the development are strong legacy of Marxist political economy education, weak connections with the world economic community, poor financing, and brain drain. It is argued that the foreign aid to TE's economics education can be effectively realized through a network of joint Greenfield economic schools aimed to teach teachers.
Journal Article
Soviet Economic Growth: 1928-1985
Since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the USSR has transformed itself from an undeveloped economy into a modern industrial state. Soviet economic growth is evaluated as it appears in the specialized Western literature, in a framework of modern economic growth (MEG) as developed by Kuznets, Gerschenkron, and many others. Modern economic growth is perceived as a general framework within which many variants and diverse paths are accepted and tolerated provided that certain essential features are present. A survey of the USSR's growth record and of the major structural changes in its economy is presented, both in a comparative setting. The elements of the Soviet system, its growth strategy, and the major economic policies that determine its growth patterns are examined. Most of the major decisions on the development strategy and on the nature of the regime were made in 1920s and 1930s, but their impact can be seen in Soviet patterns of behavior today. An explanation for declining Soviet growth rates is offered.
Journal Article
