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Countries are often slow to adjust their economic structures to new necessities although this reform reluctance is costly in terms of growth and employment. This paper analyses the relevant factors that block or foster economic reforms. Theoretical considerations show that there are at least three classes of potentially relevant factors: the objective need for reforms, political-economic issues and factors associated with limited rationality or rational ignorance. In the empirical analysis, a reform event is quantified as a significant change of the Economic Freedom of the World indicator within a five-year-period. This allows to run probit estimations for a large country panel starting in the 1970s where the probability of reform is explained by a number of proxies covering all three classes of potential factors. The results suggest that the initial extent of economic freedom and growth performance are empirically relevant factors. Furthermore, countries with an ageing population appear to behave less reform friendly.

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The study analyzes the administrative-territorial reform started in 2019. There are a large number of administrative units in Latvia – 119 municipalities. Compared to other European countries, Latvia has a low population density of 1 km2. The population remains below each year and therefore financial resources to cover administrative expenditure are increasing every year. Many municipalities no longer comply with the statutory requirements and are unable to provide the functions specified for them. In 2019, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development has launched an administratively territorial reform to reduce the number of administrative units. The article aim to explore the forthcoming administratively territorial reform and its impact on residents in Latgale. The author of the article studied the reform, its purpose and substance, profiles of municipalities established by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, carried out a survey of Latgale residents in order to find out the opinion of the population on the reform, as well as analysing the migration of Latgale municipalities' labour force.

This book is the first full-length study of the land reform and the resultant social changes in rural Ethiopia. ; Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. The agrarian system under the old -- 3. The land -- 4. Peasants and peasant associations -- 5. Peasants and agrarian reform -- 6. Select bibliography

Judicial reform is currently a hotly debated topic in Brazil. The call for reform of the Brazilian judiciary, however, is anything but new. The Brazilian judiciary has been in a state of crisis since colonial days, and despite numerous attempts at reform, it remains in crisis. With the privatization of Brazil's state-owned enterprises, the growth of Mercosur, the urgent need to make Brazilian firms competitive in world markets, the emphasis upon attracting foreign investment, and the opening of Brazil's economy to foreign competition, Brazilian political leadership began to focus upon ways to reform Brazil's malfunctioning judicial system. Unfortunately, the proposed reforms are unlikely to cure the underlying problems of Brazil's judiciary, which are deeply embedded in a complex of constitutional, procedural, structural, economic, political, and cultural problems that are likely to be resolved, if at all, only over a period of many years.

Das Gesetz zur Reform des Risikostrukturausgleichs in der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung aus dem Jahr 2001 umfasste zwei kurzfristige Maßnahmen, um den Risikostrukturausgleich stärker zu fokussieren: Der "Risikopool" als solidarische Finanzierung besonders aufwändiger Leistungsfälle und die Einbindung der strukturierten Behandlungsprogramme. Gleichzeitig wurde ein Zeitplan zur Einführung einer direkten Morbiditätsorientierung im Risikostrukturausgleich gesetzlich verankert. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Auswirkungen der kurzfristigen Maßnahmen und prüft, ob die langfristige Agenda noch zeitgemäß ist. Es wird gezeigt, dass die kurzfristigen Maßnahmen zwar bislang wenige Auswirkungen hatten, aber dass die direkte Morbiditätsorientierung umso notwendiger ist. ; In 2002, the German Bundestag enacted a major reform of the risk adjustment procedure between sickness funds. This reform consisted of two short-term measures, the "risk pool" as stop-loss reinsurance for sickness funds and the introduction of financial incentives for disease management programmes. In the long term, the socio-demographic categories of the risk structure are to be complemented by morbidity based categories. This paper evaluates the short-term measures and reviews the arguments for the long-term measure. The short-term measures are shown to have had little effect so far, but the need for the introduction of a directly morbidity based system remains an important measure to ensure competition between sickness funds.

CAP reform is an opportunity for the EU and the new member states to make progress in terms of protecting peasant agriculture and farmers themselves in developing Europe's future. This requires reform of the Common Agricultural Policy as a necessity for the new Member States. They need to establish a set of clear objectives for sustainable development of the agricultural sector and also methods for a more efficient implementation of the common policy. This article follows a description of the CAP reform. While EU countries are developed, showcasing a stable economy, agricultural production and prices of agricultural products are influenced by favorable or unfavorable weather conditions. The new Member States have to find ways of solving old problems of agriculture, but also to meet the new challenges of European integration.

The Banking Sector plays an important role in the economic development of a country. In developing countries, especially in Syria, the banking sector represents the backbone of the Syrian economy and has been playing an important financial intermediary role since 2003. The Syrian authorities embarked on a reform agenda to develop the financial sector and improve intermediation. A number of laws and regulations have been put in force. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the Syrian banking system reform process through examining and analyzing the financial indicators of the banks in Syria, for the period (2000-2010). This study adopted analytical descriptive method in research based on the analysis of the data annual reports. The study found out that despite the achievements made so far, considerable challenges remain, including the establishment of indirect monetary instruments, the reduction of the role of the government in credit allocation, and the removal of the large excess liquidity in the banking system and the Syrian money market is still insufficiently developed. ; The Banking Sector plays an important role in the economic development of a country. In developing countries, especially in Syria, the banking sector represents the backbone of the Syrian economy and has been playing an important financial intermediary role since 2003. The Syrian authorities embarked on a reform agenda to develop the financial sector and improve intermediation. A number of laws and regulations have been put in force. This paper seeks to provide an overview of the Syrian banking system reform process through examining and analyzing the financial indicators of the banks in Syria, for the period (2000-2010). This study adopted analytical descriptive method in research based on the analysis of the data annual reports. The study found out that despite the achievements made so far, considerable challenges remain, including the establishment of indirect monetary instruments, the reduction of the role of the government in credit allocation, and the removal of the large excess liquidity in the banking system and the Syrian money market is still insufficiently developed.

In the last two years comprehensive legislative reforms have been passed in France which aim to change the territorial architecture of the Republic to ensure increased transparency and efficiency in public administration in the long term. The reforms focus on the metropolises, the merging of regions and the reorganisation of the powers of the various levels of regional bodies. Cross-border cooperation on the Upper Rhine and in the Greater Region is affected but not called into question by the reforms.

Entsprechend den Prognosen im "Verkehrsbericht 2000" wird in den kommenden 15 Jahren der Güterverkehr um mehr als 60% zunehmen. Dieses Wachstum kann nur von allen Verkehrsträgern nach einer grundlegenden Reform der Verkehrspolitik bewältigt werden. Wie könnte sie aussehen?

Much debate has arisen in recent years over the state of the legal system in the United States and proposals to drastically alter it. More attention is being directed towards the economic consequences of our litigation-centered legal regime, such as the impact of medical liability on health care costs. The Bush Administration has made legal reform a high priority. This is a worthy and necessary discourse, but the debate unfortunately has deteriorated into partisan quarreling. In this climate, there is little hope for achieving a real resolution that protects individuals and promotes economic activity. The present debate must move towards a bipartisan exploration of sensible reforms and innovative solutions.

As a country seeking admission to the European Union, this paper explores educational reforms in Turkey that enhance its possible entry into the European Union and changes still needed for it to be an equal partner. An overview of the school system in Turkey is provided including information on teacher training and preparation, special education policy, and post high school participation. Its educational system still faces significant hurdles and must address human rights issues in order to provide equal access and nondiscriminatory education for all. While strides have been made to improve educational opportunities, inequality is still a reality for many females and those of lower socio-economic status. Higher education opportunities continue to improve with infrastructure problems competing to keep pace with the number of facilities available. Turkey continues to address these educational concerns while progressing toward the goal of improving its status as a European Union candidate.

The paper presents an endogenous growth economy with a representation of the tax rate system in the Baltic countries. Assuming that government spending is a given fraction of output, the paper shows how a flat tax system balanced between labor and corporate tax rates can be second best optimal. It then computes how actual Baltic tax reforms from 2000 to 2007 affect the growth rate and welfare, including transition dynamics. Comparing the actual reform effects to hypothetical tax experiments, it results that equal flat tax rates on personal and corporate income would have increased welfare in all three Baltic countries by 24% more on average than the actual reforms. This shows how equal, balanced, flat rate taxes can be optimal in both theory and practice. Further, movement towards a more equal balance between labor and capital tax rates, through changing just one tax rate, achieved almost as high or higher utility gains as in actual law for all three countries under both open and closed economy cases. This shows benefits of moving towards the optimum.

This chapter re-examines the case for reforming the Common Agricultural Policy. The health and environmental aspects of modern agriculture have been highlighted by British experience with BSE and FMD. Historically, agricultural support has been rationalised by reference to security of supply, income maintenance, or, increasingly, environmental concerns. It is argued that production price supports, the scale of which is set out, act as incentives to intensification which is environmentally damaging and poses threats to animal welfare and human health. Hormone beef and GMOs are no more threatening to the health of Europeans than of Americans and therefore should not be an issue in transatlantic trade although regulation of their use in production may be in order.Trade with developing countries is also affected by the CAP to their disadvantage on average – a problem that might be aggravated by EU enlargement to include countries such as Poland and Hungary with large agricultural sectors. The EU allows member states to enforce standards of animal welfare in excess of Union-wide minima. It is argued that doing this merely diverts production to less demanding regimes. It would be better to define different standards and to acquire appropriate labelling (as also of hormone use, GMOs etc). Farm support should be switched much faster from price support (with the environmentally damaging side effects) to explicitly environmentally friendly programmes (possibly rationally administered within an EU framework) compatible with a more liberal trading regime.

Ghana's tax reforms constitute the major policy instrument needed to accelerate growth and poverty reduction. Over the past two decades, the government has consistently spent more revenue than it is able to generate and the gap is often financed with foreign aid which has perpetuated the country's aid dependency. Two options can be explored to reduce the gap between government revenue and expenditure; generate more revenue or reduce government expenditure. Although the latter sounds reasonable, the government needs to spend more on key sectors like education, health and infrastructure if the country is to significantly reduce poverty. The critical issue has been how to generate the needed resources domestically, using tax instruments that are least harmful to the poor. This will obviously involve reforming the tax system to ensure efficiency by widening the tax net without necessarily increasing the tax rate. This paper provides an assessment of the changing structure of the tax system in Ghana over the last two decades and suggests ways to improve tax administration in the country.