In this paper we investigate the real interest parity condition in ten Eastern European transition countries during 1997-2009 period. Our sample is interesting for three reasons: It covers the second stage of economic transition in the aftermath of the collapse of socialism; the establishment of Euroland at the turn of the century: and enlargement of Euroland to include the Eastern European countries of Slovenia and Slovakia. The data enables us to investigate how the introduction of market mechanisms in the early nineties and the establishment and enlargement of Euroland acted on real interest rate convergence.
In 2002, there were more than 1 billion overweight people worldwide and over 300 million of these were obese. This problem is not limited to developed countries as evidenced by some of the following prevalence rates of obesity. A survey carried out during 1991-1994 in the urban region of Cairo, Egypt, (in a general population over 20 years of age) found that 56.0% of men and 45% of women were obese (body mass index. In Saudi Arabia, 26.4% of men and 44.0% of women in a nationally representative survey of adults over 30 years of age (in 1995œ2000) were found to be obese; equivalent to 35.6% of the population. In a survey conducted from 1998 to 2000, Kuwait was found to have a slightly lower prevalence of obesity; 21.5% in men and 22.8% in women. A study from India reported that 25.4% of men and 35.8% of women, over 20 years of age, were overweight in 2000. In a report from Japan, 26.8% of men and 21.3% of women were overweight. The highest percentage of obesity was found in the population in Japan aged between 60 and 69 years, with 30.7% for men and 31.0% for women from a nationally representative survey of adults carried out in 2000.
In 1999 in Mongolia, the prevalence of overweight people for the population over 20 years of age was 52.0%; 44.0% for men and 57.0% for women. China has some of the lowest reported prevalence rates of obesity with 1.7 -2.9% for men and 4.3% for women in the population aged 20 to 45 years. Thailand is reported to have a prevalence of a in 18.8% of men and 28.6% of women aged 13 to 59 years. A study from Italy, carried out in 1998, reported 18.0% of men and 22.0% of women (aged 35œ74 years) to be obese in a nationally-representative sample. South Africa was found to have very different prevalence rates by sex; 9.3% of men and 30.1% of women (more than 15 years of age) were reported obese in a survey carried out in 1998. In Ghana, the prevalence of overweight women aged 15œ49 was found to be 16.1%, reaching 21.7% in the group aged 35œ39 years old. In a study conducted in Germany in 1998, 20.3% of the population, aged 18œ79 years, were reported to be obese.
Productivity differential and its continuous growth over time are viewed as important factors that determine the comparative or competitive advantage in international trade. On the theoretical front, there is a common opinion that international trade in general and export in particular enhances economic growth and improves the productivity of involved firms (see Beckerman, 1962; Kaldor, 1970; Balassa, 1988; Bhagwati, 1988). Economic policies under export-led growth strategy have been widely supported on the argument that exposure to international market through export helps to increase the productivity of exporters.
Similarly, advocates of endogenous growth theory believe that export plays a crucial role by improving productivity through innovation (Grossman and Helpman, 1991; Rivera-Batiz and Romer, 1991) and technology transfer (Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995; Parente and Prescott, 1994). Broadly, productivity growth can occur as a result of many factors such as capital accumulation, the adoption of new technologies, research and development (R&D), changes in the organization of firms and through export participation.
