Privatization, Competition, and Budget Constraints: Disciplining Enterprises in Russia

John Earle and Saul Estrin

Economic Change and Restructuring, 2003, vol. 36, issue 1, 22 pages

Abstract: We investigate whether privatization, competitive forces, and the hardening of budget constraints played efficiency-enhancing roles in Russia in the immediate post-privatization period. We find evidence of a positive impact of privatization on labor productivity: a 10% point increase in private share ownership raises real sales per employee by 3–5%. The evidence on product market competition is weaker, depending on model specification. Soft budget constraints are usually found to reduce restructuring but the effect is small and insignificant. We find that in terms of their impacts on productivity, privatization and subsidy reduction are substitutes; privatization and competition (measured as the geographic scope of markets) are complements; and that competition and subsidy reduction are independent. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

Keywords: competition; enterprise performance; import discipline; market structure; privatization; Russia; soft budget constraints; subsidies; transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (40)

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DOI: 10.1023/B:ECOP.0000005749.89697.13

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