*Education and job -to -job mobility: An empirical analysis of Bulgaria and the Czech Republic

In this dissertation the relationship between job-to-job mobility and education is examined to help understand differences in economic performance between Bulgaria and the Czech Republic during transition as of 1993. A focus on how higher levels of educational attainment might have enhanced worker reaction to the transition suggests that the behavior of more educated workers, as observed in the Czech Republic, was of benefit to economic performance there. This was less so the case in Bulgaria where economic conditions limited opportunities in the labor market and more educated workers left the labor force at high rates. A focus on how education type affects job-to-job mobility reveals that specific education locks workers into a narrow array of jobs defined by their formal qualifications. Gradualist employment policies in the Czech Republic gave these workers time to adjust to economic restructuring and led to less human capital depreciation. This did not happen in Bulgaria where ineffective labor market policies and long-term unemployment resulted in much more human capital depreciation.