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31. Post-privatisation Corporate Performance in Poland. Evidence from Companies Privatized in 2008-2011

Author:
Barbara Błaszczyk and Wiktor Patena
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
The study concerns the effects of Polish privatisation program conducted in the years 2008-2011. After drawing a broad picture of this process we investigate the performance of 59 privatised companies, and finally focus on a deeper analysis of three companies, which is the core part of our study. We test the hypotheses that privatisation increases a company's profitability, labour productivity, capital investment spending, plow-back ratio and leverage. In case studies, we additionally explore the effect of privatization on each company’s value. The outcomes concerning the larger group of companies are partly ambiguous (with four hypotheses confirmed and four rejected). Profitability has been not visibly improved, although a number of positive initiatives and improvements in performance occurred. By contrast, the three case studies showed a significant improvement of profitability and all other performance indicators observed, as well as a considerable increase of company value. Our results show that privatisation works, though its full effects need time to occur.
Topic:
Privatization, Financial Markets, Economy, Economic growth, State, Innovation, and Trade
Political Geography:
Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and Poland

32. The Banking Union: State of Art

Author:
Andrzej Reich and Stefan Kawalec
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Social and Economic Research - CASE
Abstract:
It is widely believed that the creation of the banking union initiated the integration of the EU banking market. The process is traced back to June 2012 (EU Summit decided to create the banking union), 4 November 2013 (effective date of the Banking Union Regulation), or 4 November 2014 (operational launch of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, SSM). However, the integration of the EU banking market began much earlier and the creation of the banking union should be considered the final rather than the initial step in the process.
Topic:
Finance, Financial Markets, Regional Integration, Banks, and Fiscal Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and European Union

33. Rio de Janeiro as a Global Financial Center

Author:
Virgílio Gibbon
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI)
Abstract:
Situational crises tend to concentrate economic activity in centers where such activity already is historically more significant. As a result, financial markets — especially the organized markets — tend to coalesce around these same centers because they benefit from the higher level of liquidity that concentrated economic activity offers. This undoubtedly was one of the major causes of the waning of the financial market in Rio de Janeiro, and the hegemony conquered by São Paulo as of the 1980s.
Topic:
International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Financial Crisis, and Financial Markets
Political Geography:
Brazil

34. Power to the States: Making Fiscal Transfers Work for Better Health

Author:
Center for Global Development
Publication Date:
12-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Most money and responsibility for health in large federal countries like India rests with subnational governments — states, provinces, districts, and municipalities. The policies and spending at the subnational level affect the pace, scale, and equity of health improvements in countries that account for much of the world’s disease burden: India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Fiscal transfers between levels of government can — but do not always — play an important role in turning money into outcomes at the subnational level. Well designed, transfers can help put states on a level financial playing field by equalizing spending across states and adjusting allocations for the health risks of each state’s population. Transfers can increase accountability and create incentives for greater spending or effectiveness in service delivery. But transfers are rarely designed with attention to their desired outcomes. To get to better outcomes, international experience suggests that transfers need to be reexamined and reformed along three dimensions. First, central government’s allocation of national revenues to subnational governments should respond to needs and population size. Second, transfers should generate incentives to improve subnational governments’ spending quality and performance on outcomes. Third, independent systems to monitor, evaluate, and provide feedback data on subnational performance can generate greater accountability to the central government, parliaments, and legislatures as well as to citizens. These insights are seemingly simple and suggestive, but each country starts from its own unique history that requires careful technical analysis and political savvy to define reforms with genuine potential to improve health.
Topic:
International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Markets
Political Geography:
Global Focus