Like almost every year in the last decade, Tallinn hosted a conference on the economic perspectives for the region. The meeting gathered researchers from most former communist countries and counted with the presence of two well-known keynote speakers: Michael Funke and Gerard Roland, who presented their most recent research on the field of political economy.

While most of the sessions focused on macroeconomics and finance, a session on labour market was opened especially for our own GRAPE members. Magdalena presented her most recent article, “Pushed into necessity”, on the relation between the adjusted gender wage gap and female entrepreneurial activity. Their findings suggest that a higher adjusted gaps (wage and employment) lead to more female entrepreneurs, though the effects are significant only in the case of necessity driven entrepreneurs.

Lucas presented the paper on the impact of demographic flows on changes in the structure of transition economies. Their research, based on the Life in Transition Survey, demonstrates that most of the structural change was driven by asymmetric entry and exit of workers. Workers in traditional sectors opted more often for early retirement schemes, while youngsters entered into the private sector, mostly in services.