This study estimates the number of the working-age population, unemployed in the economy, in the Belarusian regions for 2007-2015 covered by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus from 2 April 2015 №3 "On the prevention of social dependency". The paper analyzes the relationship between the number of this group of population and regional economic development of Belarus. The results show that the presence of the working-age population, unemployed in the economy, is mostly an economic phenomenon related to the level of economic development of a certain region, district or city of Belarus.

This policy paper deals with the perspectives of the national economy development in 2018-2020. The study emphasizes that fluctuations around equilibrium growth rate is the most likely scenario. The study uses the estimate of 2.5% of equilibrium growth rate for Belarus, which is a compromise among different approaches and methodologies. The scenario of higher growth may become possible due to positive external shocks. However, even in case of permanently strengthening external environment, the growth rate of the national economy is still likely to be unsustainable.

We examine if a trade policy tool designed for fostering development is used strategically. We study this question using GSP country eligibility reviews regarding worker rights violations.

We examine the empirical relationship between the quality of corporate governance practices and economic development in an unbalanced panel of 185 countries covering 2010 through 2015. We find that corporate governance is positively associated with the FDI inflow and market capitalization, and negatively associated with the public sector employment in low-income countries. Our results also suggest that corporate governance is negatively correlated with corruption in the high-income countries. Finally, we establish the unidirectional causality running from corporate governance to economic development, and find no evidence of causal effect of economic development on corporate governance. Therefore, our results suggest that the policy makers should in the first place address the institutional transition of the countries including the implementation of best corporate governance practices to accelerate economic development in developing economies.