"One of the most important issues faced by the Moldovan government is the longterm reconciliation of two socio-economic objectives which seem to be apparentlycontradictory – efficiency and equity. Reasonable trade-offs could be found in orderto reconcile the long-term desire to ensure the viability of the system with the shortterm imperative of guaranteeing the system's survival after the severe shockcaused by the rampant economic crisis. This is especially evident in such fields asunemployment, education, social services and healthcare. There are two basic aimswhich must be targeted by the Moldovan government in order to lessen this tradeoff – social assistance system reform and pension system reform. The educationand healthcare systems are strongly influenced by the practice of informal, out-ofpocket payments which reflect the inherent tendency of the entire system towardsself-adjustment. These informal practices increase the general efficiency of thesystem but, at the same time, create additional perverse consequences which despoil it."

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