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AbstractThis paper analyses the impact of voucher privatization schemes on the behaviour of households and the consequences for macroeconomic policy. The stylized facts of the voucher privatization scheme are described for the Czech case. The consumption as well as portfolio decision of households during the voucher scheme are modelled within the framework of a consumption function and a system of demand functions for financial assets. The envelope theorem is used to modify the standard Almost Ideal Demand (AID) system. The empirical results are presented. The paper concludes that the interdependence between privatization and macroeconomic stability should be better understood by policy‐makers in transitional countries that are going to adopt a similar approach to privatization to that applied in the Czech Republic.

We offer a novel methodology for assessing the quality of inflation reports. In contrast to the existing literature, which mostly evaluates the formal quality of these reports, we evaluate their economic content by comparing inflation factors reported by the central banks with ex-post model-identified factors. Regarding the former, we use verbal analysis and coding of inflation reports to describe inflation factors communicated by central banks in real time. Regarding the latter, we use reduced-form, new Keynesian models and revised data to approximate the true inflation factors. Positive corr

It is widely recognised that foreign direct investment (FDI) may have an important role to play in the transformation of the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe. FDI provides a vital source of investment for modernising the industrial structure of these countries and for improving the quality and reliability of infrastructure. In addition new investments may also bring badly needed skills and technologies into the host economy. Evidence from joint ventures in Hungary (Lane, 1994) shows that such firms had a higher propensity to trade and invest than purely indigenous firms. Total FDI inflows into Hungary between 1991–93 were equivalent to 25 per cent of total fixed domestic capital formation (UINDTCI, 1995).