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Large regional disparities in labor market indicators exist in Central Europe and the Baltic region. Such disparities appear to be persistent over time indicating, in part, a lack of flexibility in the prevailing adjustment mechanisms. Internal labor mobility is often seen as an important instrument to reduce adjustment costs when other mechanisms fail. Drawing from a variety of data sources and utilizing a common empirical framework and estimation strategy, this study identifies patterns and statistical profiles of geographical mobility. It finds internal migration to be generalily low and highly concentrated among better-educated, young, and single workers. This suggests that migration is more likely to reinforce existing inequalities than to act as an equalizing phenomenon. By way of contrast, commuting flows have grown over time and are more responsive to regional economic differentials. The findings suggest the need for appropriate and country-tailored policy measures designed to increase the responsiveness of labor flows to market conditions.

Drawing from a variety of data sources and utilizing a common empirical framework and estimation strategy, this study identifies patterns and statistical profiles of geographical mobility. It finds internal migration to be generally low and highly concentrated among better-educated, young, and single workers. This suggests that migration is more likely to reinforce existing inequalities than to act as an equalizing phenomenon. By way of contrast, commuting flows have grown over time and are more responsive to regional economic differentials. The findings suggest the need for appropriate and country-tailored policy measures designed to increase the responsiveness of labor flows to market conditions.

According to various authors, by the beginning of this century Ukraine's shadow economy was estimated to be around 40%-50% of the official economy, one of the highest levels in Europe. The estimates for Russia show similar results (around 40% of GDP). The ability to shift taxes on employees (in the form of reduced post-tax wages) depends on the elasticity of the labor supply. A less elastic labor supply allows wages to be decreased without a significant loss in hours worked. Results of other studies performed by CASE concerning shadow employment indicate that for less skilled and unregistered workers it is not a way to evade taxes. For most of those workers it is a necessity resulting from a lack of registered jobs. The results of the analysis conducted on Ukraine indicate that tax reform (introduced in 2004) as such had the expected negative influence on the probability of shadow income.

The affect of the global financial crisis on Azerbaijan's economy is an interesting case study, particularly because it is a small Commonwealth of Independent States transition country strongly dependent on oil exports. In fact, oil constitutes about half of the country's GDP. Therefore, the channels by which the recent economic crisis influenced the local economy are slightly different to those experienced by other economies in the region. The fall in oil prices and resulting reductions in income from oil exports is the most obvious and most visible sign of the implications that the economic crisis has had on Azerbaijan's economy. In 2009, Azerbaijan's state budget revenues amounted to AZN 10.6 billion, which is 4.1% lower than in 2008. Public investment cuts manifested themselves in serious investment reduction, hence, GDP slowdown. In 2009, total investment fell by 18.7% yoy; 12.5 percentage points of this decrease was due to a reduction in public investment.

This paper analyzes the distribution of real household incomes and consumption growth in Azerbaijan between 2004 and 2009. Decile-specific price deflators were used to calculate real incomes and consumption dynamics. The analysis, which was based on growth incidence curves, showed that economic growth between 2004 and 2009 was definitely pro-poor, both for real incomes and real consumption. Our results also indicate that household incomes were much more strongly correlated with oil GDP than with non-oil growth. Employment was the most important source of income growth for all deciles. Poorer households changed their coping strategies from subsistence agriculture to paid- and self-employment. Although this led to a dynamic increase in their incomes, it hardly changed their consumption basket, with food still constituting more than 65% of spending. This means that their actual standard of living level did not change very much. Our results also indicate the low effectiveness and efficiency of social transfers; they were found to be almost evenly distributed among income deciles and played a negligible role in the income growth of the poorest households. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]