Inequality in Belarus from 1995 to 2005
CERGE-EI Working Paper Series No. 356
55 Pages Posted: 16 Oct 2009
Date Written: June 1, 2008
Abstract
Income and consumption inequality increased in all transition economies, albeit to very different levels. Existing findings suggest that countries that were slow to undertake premarket reforms experienced the largest increase in inequality, with the notable exception of Belarus, one of the least reformed ex-Soviet republics, that nevertheless has inequality comparable to the most advanced and least unequal transition countries of Central Europe. This article studies the evolution of inequality in Belarus in 1995-2005, decomposes inequality by region and source of income, and provides cross-country comparisons. Specifically, a comparison of Belarus and Ukraine, based on DiNardo-Fortin-Lemieux Counterfactual Kernel Densities, suggests that the large difference in inequality levels is due to different income policies of the two countries: Belarus is unusual not only in its lack of privatization, but also in that it kept many of the old-style Soviet social security features.
Keywords: Belarus, Ukraine, transition, income inequality, expenditure inequality, social security
JEL Classification: D31, D63, H55, O15
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Inequality, Transfers and Growth: New Evidence from the Economic Transition in Poland
By Michael P. Keane and Eswar S. Prasad
-
Inequality, Transfers and Growth: New Evidence from the Economic Transition in Poland
By Michael P. Keane and Eswar S. Prasad
-
Macroeconomic Effects of Terms-of-Trade Shocks: The Case of Oil-Exporting Countries
By Nikola Spatafora and Andrew Warner
-
Increasing Inequality in Transition Economies: Is There More to Come?
By Pradeep Mitra and Ruslan Yemtsov
-
Enterprises and Workers in the Transition: Econometric Evidence
By Jan Svejnar
-
Earnings Inequality and Transition: A Regional Analysis of Poland