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This chapter identifies the determinants of economic growth for the newly formed countries of the former Soviet Union and the Socialist Bloc. Starting from a neoclassical theory of growth this chapter adds recently identified contributing factors such as human capital, economic freedom, and financial developments to find the determinant of the growth in the region. Other control variables such as population are also included. There are numerous variables that can measure any of the theoretically suggested factors, most of which are correlated. The study checks for multicollinearity among variables. It also accounts for differences in development stages of the countries under study. The data are measured in levels. Tests of normality and randomness are performed to assure compliance with theoretical requirements. This study utilizes panel data analysis using both fixed and random effect models, tested for relevance using the Breusch–Pagan method. The chapter identifies relevant factors and concludes that there are differences among per capita gross domestic products of the countries even after controlling for contributing variables.

This chapter measures the contribution of financial development to economic growth in Russia. The expansion of banking system causes institutional improvement in the economy, which results in extended and sustained economic growth due to changes in financial institutions. This chapter proposes the novel idea of principal component analysis (PCA) to overcome these problems. Then, the PCA method provides loading factors that condense financial information into a few orthogonal factors, which are used as explanatory variables. The study indicates that financial development explains both per capita GDP and its growth rate. The explanatory power of the models improves by adding control variables and econometric safeguards such as correcting for nonstationarity and multicolinerity. However, utilizing the PCA method to obtain an orthogonal set of variables to represent financial development, deepening, and concentration improves the performance of the model even further.

The paper aims to investigate the connection between corruption and ethnic polarization and religious fractionalization.

Analysis of variance and regression expectation models were used to identify groups of countries for their similarities and differences.

Results show that significant statistical differences exist between the countries grouped by human development, income and developing countries. Countries with expectations higher or lower than the norm in corruption were identified.

The paper highlights the connection between corruption and ethnicity for some 127 countries.

Entrepreneurial firms contribute to economic growth, but the potential gendered nature of this contribution must be investigated as outcomes of male-owned and female-owned firms differ. The study investigates the female underperformance hypothesis in a cross-country analysis of Schumpeterian entrepreneurs. Next, it investigates if there is a gendered dimension of Schumpeterian firm contribution to economic growth.

The study utilizes both nonparametric and parametric methodologies. Through nonparametric methods, the success of female-owned and male-owned firms is compared. Next, a parametric ordinary least squares regression model tests if there is a gendered nature of an entrepreneurial firm's economic contribution.

In nonparametric analyses, female-owned entrepreneurial firms in developed countries perform similarly to male-owned firms, while in developing countries male-owned firms significantly outperform female-owned firms. The author also finds strong evidence that the gender of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur does not matter in the contribution in economic growth.

In all countries, the number of female-owned entrepreneurial firms was significantly lower than that of male-owned firms. The findings point to consistent cultural barriers for women in innovation-related fields and persistent gendered norms in entrepreneurship. Thus, removal of cultural barriers and continued support for Schumpeterian entrepreneurship will benefit women and contribute to a country's economic growth.

The data for this study is a unique utilization of the Enterprise World Survey to identify Schumpeterian entrepreneurial firms. Additionally, the study challenges the female underperformance hypothesis and contributes to the literature on the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth.