The importance of the agricultural sector in the economy of Azerbaijan is high. This sector has always been at the center of economic reforms by the government. This chapter overviews economic and trade policies of the government focused on the development of agricultural production since 1991. Authors carry out analysis of policy changes during separate development stages. The research output presents agricultural policy before the oil boom as mainly devoted to achieving structural transformation from centrally planned economy to the market environment. Within the oil boom period, the government provided substantial fiscal and technical support to the agricultural sector as well as applied tax incentives to farmers but did not pay attention to the transformation from family farming to medium and large-scale production. However, fiscal and macroeconomic challenges of post-oil boom period forced the government to focus on increasing efficiency of the subsidies and incentives and implementation of further agricultural reforms.

Oil price changes has a great influence on the behaviour of firms in oil exporting countries which displays itself in amount of non‑oil tax receipts of the state budget. Employing FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR cointegration methods for 2001Q1–2015Q4, the study aims to analyse how oil price changes affects non‑oil tax revenues in Azerbaijan. Empirical results altogether provide strong scientific evidence that there is U‑shaped causality from oil price changes to total non‑oil tax revenues , corporate income tax receipts and labour income tax payments , and inverse U‑shaped to non‑oil VAT revenues of the state budget. Results show that firms face with the trade‑off between “produce‑and‑sell” and “import‑and‑sell” as oil price rises. In case of higher price than the threshold level, companies prefer the latter choice. Research findings are highly useful for the public policy decision‑makers in resource rich economies.

This research investigates the impact of institutional trust on self-reported life satisfaction in the case of eight selected post-Soviet (non-EU member) countries. The study examines a potential explanation for the aforementioned impact and investigates the mediating role of perceived relative income for the relationship between institutional trust and life satisfaction. The sample contains a pool of country-level cross-sectional data (N=10410; n_female=5952, n_male=4458, 〖Mean〗_age=43.86) obtained from the World Values Survey (wave 6). The study applies mediation analysis to explore institutional trust's direct and indirect effects on individuals' life satisfaction. The validity of positive association is confirmed for pooled and country-level analyses. Simultaneously, mediation analyses provide evidence for the hypothesized indirect effect of institutional trust on life satisfaction through perceived relative income in the case of pooled data and five selected countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine). A significant mediation effect is not found in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Policy recommendations derived from the research suggest focusing on public policies and efficient communication tools to enhance institutional trust among citizens in conjuction with decreasing income inequality.

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Intention to emigrate has been one of the most challenging issues globally over the last decade for both migrant-sending and receiving countries. Rising emigration intentions trigger migration attempts and brain drain, while migrant-receiving countries are challenged by illegal emigration. Self-perceived trust in government is one of the fundamental determinants of citizens' emigration aspirations. This research applies path analyses to explore direct and indirect effects of trust in government on emigrating intentions in a post-soviet country – Azerbaijan. Using a pool of two social survey data (N=4092,n_Male=2106,n_Female=1986,〖Mean〗_Age=31.82) within a serial mediation analysis framework, we conclude that the trust in government has a significant direct (65-70%) and indirect (30-35%) negative impact on emigration aspirations among the people of Azerbaijan. The relationship is mediated by self-reported life satisfaction. Perceived income adequacy also mediates the relationship indirectly via life satisfaction. A key novelty of the study is that, contrary to popular belief, emigration aspirations in Azerbaijan are revealed to be less economic in motivation and are mainly explained by the lack of trust in government, which also reduces individuals' satisfaction with life. Therefore, improving the quality of public services and the trust in government institutions would reverse intentions to emigrate. The research can be replicated in other developing countries, and the findings can be used to design policies aimed at controlling international emigration issues.