SSE Riga/BICEPS Occasional Papers

The SSE Riga/BICEPS Occasional Papers present policy relevant research undertaken at SSE Riga and the Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies. The papers cover the fields of economic, business and management. Some of the papers will be written within EU projects in which the School or BICEPS take part. Most papers are written in English, but papers could also be published in Latvian. The target group of the Occasional Papers comprises academicians as well as decision makers in the public and private sectors.

No. 6: The Case for a Latvian Version of the Obama Broadband Package
Alf Vanags (BICEPS), June 2009.
The paper investigates whether the evidence suggests that a broadband package on the lines of the Obama package in the US or the Digital Britain initiative in the UK could be an appropriate instrument in recession-hit Latvia.

No 5: Renewable Energy: Is there a Latvian Master Plan?
Ieva Indriksone (RGSL), Esmeralda Balode-Buraka (RGSL), Mārtiņš Kālis (BICEPS), Alf Vanags (BICEPS and SSE Riga), Anders Paalzow (SSE Riga and BICEPS), December 2008.
Taking into account the potential of wind energy and Latvia’s vulnerable position in terms of energy security and energy independence, this report analyzes the legal, economic and political aspects of further development of the wind power sector in Latvia. The findings of the show that, from a legal perspective, Latvia has properly implemented the EU law governing wind-energy production into Latvian legislation and that the current legislation contains more or less all the formal pre-requisites to encourage investments into the wind-generated energy industry. There are, however, still some question marks when it comes to the administrative practices.

No 4: Stagflation in Latvia: How Long, How Far, How Deep?
Morten Hansen (SSE Riga and BICEPS) and Alf Vanags (BICEPS and SSE Riga), September 2008. This report addresses a number of macro economic issues related to the recent Latvian economic development characterized by two consecutive quarters of seasonally adjusted GDP decline accompanied by high inflation.

Anders Paalzow (BICEPS and SSE Riga) and Alf Vanags (BICEPS and SSE Riga), September 2007
This report analyzes concentration in the grocery retail market in the three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The markets (including some comparator Eastern and Western European markets) are analyzed using two standard measures: the Herfindahl Hirschman Index and the four firm concentration ratio.

No. 2: Inflation in Latvia: Causes, Prospects and Consequences

Morten Hansen (BICEPS and SSE Riga) and Alf Vanags (BICEPS and SSE Riga), June 2007. This report is the second in an annual series produced by BICEPS and SSE Riga on macro policy issues. The 2007 report is again on inflation but this time focusing only on Latvia. The inflation problem in Latvia has not gone away and if anything has intensified since early 2006 to the extent that the Latvian government was forced into action to set up a working group on inflation which eventually published an anti- inflation plan early March 2007.