Международный валютный фонд и все-все-все

[RostovtsiAlik]

Кстати я придерживаюсь того же мнения. Подобные меры уже помогли Японии достигнуть определенных высот, а вот в латинской Америке большинство стран наоборот обеднели. Зависимость от США ли причина тому, либо коррупция - это вопрос вообще для отдельной диссертации.

[Josef Gabcik]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, recently selected to take over as head of the IMF in November

[RostovtsiAlik]

в какой-то теме эту ссылку уже кажется давал[и], но вот посмотрите, если интересен небольшой экскурс в историю:-)

Kicking Away the Ladder: How the Economic and Intellectual Histories of Capitalism Have Been Re-Written to Justify Neo-Liberal Capitalism

Ha-Joon Chang (Cambridge University, UK)

Это только в университетах на лекциях по полит. экономике

[Josef Gabcik]

Вернее, где есть такой университет, где еще ведут политэкономию

[Nakomichi]

Мне очень понравилась книга Травина и Моргания "Европейская модернизация". На мой взгляд дает ответы на многие вопросы связанные с протекционизмом используя в том числе большой исторический материал. Очень рекомендую.

[kaivaz]

А вот и одна "сладкая пилюля", основанная на данных IMF и WB. Согласно им Армения "хороший мальчик". потому что "плотно с ними работает". И в награду хорошему мальчику дают почетное название - "кавказский тигр". Вау.

Взято с www.groong.com

ARMENIA A MODEL FOR DEVELOPING NATIONS

by S. Adam Cardais

Eastern Europe October 23, 2007, 12:32PM EST text size: TT Business

Week

ECONOMIC REFORM AND INVESTMENT BY ARMENIAN EXPATRIATES HAVE HELPED

THE COUNTRY BOOST GDP BY MORE THAN 10% A YEAR FOR A DECADE

To appreciate just how far Armenia has come in the last 15 years,

it helps to imagine yourself living through an Armenian winter in

the early 1990s.

It's the middle of January, it's five degrees below zero, and you

and your family have only two hours of electricity a day -- such

was the abysmal state of the energy sector in a country crippled by

the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a traumatic earthquake in 1988,

and war with neighboring Azerbaijan.

But Armenia has been "radically transformed," in the words of one

World Bank official, since its independence from the former Soviet

Union. Today, the average Armenian has electricity around the clock.

An influx of cash and a series of reforms have taken Armenia from

economic basket case, with GDP plummeting 50 percent between 1990

and 1993, to "Caucasian tiger," to quote a World Bank report issued

earlier this year. It has become a model transition economy that

should continue prospering with a second wave of reforms.

GDP has increased more than 10 percent a year for a decade largely

thanks to robust investment in a booming construction industry by the

Armenian diaspora in Europe and the United States. Sharp growth in the

services sector, including the financial sphere, and retail trade are

also contributors, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction

and Development.

"Given the fact that it doesn't have natural resources, its growth is

quite impressive," says Heike Harmgart, country economist for Armenia

at the EBRD.

And the most laudable aspect of that growth, World Bank economist

Aristomene Varoudakis says, is "that macroeconomic stability has

been preserved. Inflation has remained low," between 3 percent and

4 percent. Last year was an exception to this trend, with inflation

climbing to 5.6 percent, but the International Monetary Fund forecasts

a fall to 4 percent in 2007.

REFORMS REAP REWARDS

This fiscal discipline is an indication the government has backed

up the bountiful diaspora remittances, which are more good fortune

than anything else, with sound policy. Indeed, remittances alone

don't make Armenia a model transition economy. A series of early,

sustained governmental reforms enabled the country to capitalize on

the cash inflow.

For instance, the government eliminated wage controls and privatized

the majority of land and small businesses in the mid 1990s to encourage

investment in construction and other sectors. The central bank has

also been a key reformer, streamlining its operations and improving

supervision over the banking industry to spur a dynamic financial

services sector in a short period.

More recently, a new credit bureau to bolster small business lending

and a modernized bankruptcy law have further improved the investment

climate, two reasons Armenia ranks 39th out of 178 economies in the

World Bank's "Doing Business 2008" report.

On all of these reforms, Armenia has been wise to cooperate closely

with international institutions such as The World Bank and the IMF.

"The Armenian government has been listening to institutions very well,

which is positive," Harmgart says. "The government has always been

open minded."

It would be hard to overstate the benefit this economic revolution

has brought the population. According to the World Bank report, the

poverty rate has fallen from more than 55 percent in the early 1990s

to 30 percent. Extreme poverty had dropped to 5 percent two years ago.

GENTRIFYING NEIGHBORHOOD

The good news for the region is that Armenia's prosperity isn't

unique. Georgia's economy is growing at just under 10 percent and is

one of the leading reformers in the world, at No. 18 on the "Doing

Business 2008" report. Azerbaijan posted a whopping 34.5 percent GDP

growth in 2006 thanks to its thriving oil industry.

As in these countries, though, there's still a lot of progress to

be made in Armenia. Tax evasion remains rampant. It's extremely

costly for an individual or business to file taxes, and tax revenues

are only 15 percent of GDP, one of the lowest rates in the region,

resulting in less money for strengthening the economy or fighting

poverty through spending on education or health care.

The government is trying to increase tax compliance by introducing

a system that allows payers to submit their returns by post or

electronically, publishing a list of the country's largest contributors

in a sort of ego-driven motivator, and opening specialized collections

units, but more progress is needed.

Corruption, though becoming less pronounced, is also a major concern,

as is Armenia's over-reliance on the construction industry. Though

analysts predict Armenia will sustain double-digit growth in the short

and medium term, it has to begin diversifying its economy by making

trade more dynamic and attracting new knowledge-based investments,

such as IT companies.

Reforms in corporate transparency, competition, and education will be

central to realizing this goal, but "these are more complex reforms

than the first round," Varoudakis points out.

Armenia has without a doubt taken great strides, but nothing highlights

progress like starting from nothing. If the country wants to remain a

"Caucasian tiger," it had better prioritize these difficult reforms

now.

These will take a lot longer than turning on the power.

S. Adam Cardais has been writing about business and economics in

the European Union since 2004. A former editor at The Prague Post,

Cardais is now a business reporter based in Berlin.

[kaivaz]

Кстати, оформление обложки отчета Всеминого Банка "Армения - Кавказский Тигр" получило почетную премию Вашингтонских Издателей (Washington's publishers' award).

Дизайн можете посмотреть здесь

[Josef Gabcik]

How the Economic and Intellectual Histories of Capitalism Have Been Re-Written to Justify Neo-Liberal Capitalism...