Feb. 20, 2007  EDC Working paper #002 "DEVELOPING A SAFETY NET FOR UKRAINE: MACROECONOMIC MODELS OF SOCIAL EXPENDITURES" is published

This paper inspired by recent increases of social benefits in Ukraine. The paper builds two macro-economic simulations models to discover the range of predictions for the social safety net expenditures under different policy option. The paper finds that predictions of the model that incorporates GDP feedback of the social expenditures are significantly higher than the predictions of simpler model. The research draws conclusion that using simple (na?ve) model for analysis of increase in social benefits can significantly underestimate the funding, needed to finance the new expenditures. As the result, the policy of increased benefits can jeopardize the macroeconomic stability of the country. The paper also finds that the policy stimulating economic growth though decreased taxes may result in larger reduction of poverty in Ukraine than the increased social benefits.

Feb. 16, 2007  EDC Working paper #001 "DEVELOPING A SAFETY NET FOR UKRAINE: POLICY PROBLEM IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE" is published

This paper inspired by recent increases of social benefits in Ukraine, and is first work of EDC researchers that tries to look at these increases from broader international perspective. The paper describes current situation and development of Social Safety Net (SSN) in Ukraine, and compares it with development in countries of Eastern Europe and CIS. The research also provides simple economic framework to analyze the issue of increase in social benefits. The paper finds that neither experience of countries surrounding Ukraine nor economic theory support the statement that increase in social benefits will be financially feasible in long-term perspective.

 Feb. 16, 2007  First paper of the new EDC Working Papers is available of our site

EDC started new publication series "EDC Working Papers" that publishes reports and  papers prepared by EDC researchers while working on different projects. The papers are available in electronic from free of charge.

Feb. 15, 2007  Our mail server moved to the new platform at Google Mail

For some time EDC experienced problems with receiving e-mail to the domain EDC.COM.UA because of Smap filters installed by our Internet provider. We are proud to announce that we resolved this issue by moving our e-mail server to the new platform with Google Mail. We hope that with this move everybody we will be able to stay in closer contacts with our clients.You can now find us at Google Partner Pages