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Reports on the desire of Russia to accede to the United Nations World Trade Organization for the country's integration into the world economy. Challenges to the structural reform of the country's domestic economy; Impact of privatization on the economy; Provision of finance to businesses on commercial terms.

Presents an analytical framework for examining the role basic market institutions play in rent-seeking and illicit behavior. Institutional factors engendering opportunities for corruption; Notion that economic development and maturation of democratic processes both temper corruption; Price and production decisions; Competition policy; Correlation coefficients between corruption and institutional indicators.

Reports the problems with the Chinese economy. How the state industrial sector is the only troubled area of the economy; Reasons for the problems; How the Chinese State maintains ownership of key enterprises.

Assesses the immunity of industries in Russia to competition, due to the seller/buyer concentration in select markets. Key aspects of the post-privatization program; Suggestion for the improvement of the rules-based framework for competition policy; Economic benefits of an established policy. INSET: Box A.1: Kiev Lessens Red Tape of Registration..

Developed and developing countries alike are privatizing or corporatizing state owned enterprises (SOEs), often citing the flexibility to hire and shed labor as an advantage. However, there is little empirical evidence on the extent to which this improves firm performance. This paper investigates the linkage between labor flexibility, ownership and firm performance using China as a case study. We find that SOEs are much less able to adjust quickly to demand shocks than are other ownership forms and that the degree of worker input into hiring and firing decisions slows the ability of firms to adapt, negatively affecting firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author assesses the advantages and disadvantages of oil import fee as an appropriate energy policy measure in the U.S. in 1982. The author explores the influence of the U.S. oil imports on world oil price. There are uncertainties about the size of gap between private and social cost of oil imports. Meanwhile, one option of the gap between private incentives and social benefits of import reduction arises from the effect of imports on the world oil price. In addition, the author states that in order to come to a reasoned judgment about the wisdom of a tariff it is necessary to weigh the significance of a number of uncertain factors.

In this article, authors argue that the principal non-price provisions in wellhead contracts provide vital functions in allocating risks and reducing the costs of transactions between producers and pipelines in such a way that some degree of rigidity in gas markets is inevitable with or without price controls. However, authors argue that the incidence of these provisions in existing contracts signed during the 1970s, and thus the magnitude of current market rigidities, are the direct result of pent-up excess gas demand stemming from the earlier era of field price regulation. This hypothesis has significant implications for the design of public policy by highlighting the importance of distinguishing that portion of current contractual rigidities which is endemic to field markets from rigidities rooted in the legacy of field price regulation. The article analyzes the sources of transactions costs and risks inherent in the functioning of natural gas wellhead markets. The mutual benefits to natural gas producers and pipelines of a transactional arrangement which provides for a long-run stream of stable revenue are readily discerned.

Focuses on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Importance of services trade and investment; GATS structure, core rules, scope and coverage; Comparison to other US services agreements.

Discusses the impact of the partial deregulation of natural gas wellhead markets under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 on other segments of the petroleum industry in the United States. Distortions in other segments of the industry; Need for an integrated program of regulatory reform to solve such distortions; Components of an integrated program of regulatory reform.