IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/arh/jrujec/v8y2022i2p122-158.html

The political economy of Kazakhstan: A case of good economics, bad politics?

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Commander

    (Altura Partners, London, United Kingdom
    IE Business School, Madrid, Spain
    IZA, Bonn, Germany)

  • Ruta Prieskienyte

    (Altura Partners, London, United Kingdom
    University College London, London, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Can autocracies and their associated institutions successfully implement economic policies that promote growth and investment? Can "good economics" somehow offset the effects of "bad" politics? Kazakhstan is a case where an autocratic regime has actively projected market-friendly policies and attracted significant amounts of incoming investment. These policies are to some extent reflected in the country's governance ratings, although there has been a significant amount of investment disputes that question the attachment to the rule of law. Moreover, the political regime has remained strongly personalized around the founder President, his family and associates. This is reflected in the economics­ of the autocracy whereby a large public sector and a set of privately held businesses coexist to mutual benefit. The latter have been formed around a very small number of highly connected individuals whose initial accumulation of assets allows them also to act as necessary gatekeepers for entrants. Competition as a result remains limited in both economic and political domains. Yet, uncertainties over the future leadership, along with latent rivalry over access to resources and markets, make the political equilibrium quite fragile, as the events of January 2022 have underlined. In short, "bad" politics both squeezes the space for, and distorts the benefits from, "good" economics. At the same time, the limits of "good" economics are reflected in the extraordinary concentrations of ownership, control and wealth that have occurred.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Commander & Ruta Prieskienyte, 2022. "The political economy of Kazakhstan: A case of good economics, bad politics?," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 8(2), pages 122-158, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:arh:jrujec:v:8:y:2022:i:2:p:122-158
    DOI: 10.32609/j.ruje.8.90948
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rujec.org/article/90948/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.32609/j.ruje.8.90948?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Commander, Simon & Poupakis, Stavros, 2020. "Political Networks across the Globe," IZA Discussion Papers 13103, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Timothy Besley, 2015. "Law, Regulation, and the Business Climate: The Nature and Influence of the World Bank Doing Business Project," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 99-120, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chase Englund, 2025. "Economic elite competition and FDI inflows in nondemocratic states," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-29, February.
    2. Nurzhan DEMEUOV & Ainur ISSAYEVA & Ardak YESDAULETOVA, 2024. "Investment Policy Of The Republic Of Kazakhstan: Main Directions And Development Trends," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 24(1), pages 19-36.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefania P.S. Rossi & Graziella Bonanno & Marco Giansoldati & Tullio Gregori, 2018. "Are Venture Capital SMEs more likely to start exporting?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(3), pages 1613-1622.
    2. Rossi, Stefania Patrizia Sonia & Bonanno, Graziella & Giansoldati, Marco & Gregori, Tullio, 2021. "Export starters and exiters: Do innovation and finance matter?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 280-297.
    3. Xue, Biao & Lin, Yan & Ren, Fangxiao & Li, Runfo, 2024. "Business environment ecosystem and manufacturing upgrading: A configurational approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1225-1237.
    4. Jamal Ibrahim Haidar & Takeo Hoshi, "undated". "Implementing Structural Reforms in Abenomics: How to Reduce the Cost of Doing Business in Japan," Working Paper 316046, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    5. Bu, Juan & Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Luo, Yadong & Wang, Stephanie Lu, 2024. "Mitigating soft and hard infrastructure deficiencies in emerging markets," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(4).
    6. Le Thanh Ha & Pham Thi Ngoc Hanh & Nguyen Thi Thu Hang & Hoang Dang Khanh & Le Lan Phuong & Hoang Hop, 2024. "Is digital business an enabler of enhanced entrepreneurship? An empirical investigation of European countries," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 164-186, June.
    7. Abdulrahman M. Jolo & Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koç, 2022. "Driving Factors of Economic Diversification in Resource-Rich Countries via Panel Data Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Zakia Jabeen & Jabir Ali & Nadia Yusuf, 2021. "Difference in business obstacles faced by firms across sizes: evidence from enterprise survey data of India," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 11(1), pages 71-81, December.
    9. Haoyuan Ding & Kees G. Koedijk & Chang Li & Tong Qi, 2021. "The internationalisation of Chinese firms: Impact of FDI experience on export performance," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(12), pages 3609-3640, December.
    10. Fredrik Heyman & Pehr-Johan Norbäck & Lars Persson, 2019. "The Turnaround of the Swedish Economy: Lessons from Large Business Sector Reforms," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 274-308.
    11. Emenalo, Chukwunonye O. & Gagliardi, Francesca, 2020. "Is current institutional quality linked to legal origins and disease endowments? Evidence from Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    12. Tamanna Adhikari & Karl Whelan, 2019. "Do Business-Friendly Reforms Boost GDP?," Working Papers 201930, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    13. James Broughel & Robert W. Hahn, 2022. "The impact of economic regulation on growth: Survey and synthesis," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 448-469, April.
    14. Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2017. "Legal Reforms and Economic Performance," World Bank Publications - Reports 26213, The World Bank Group.
    15. Adhikari, Tamanna & Whelan, Karl, 2023. "Did raising doing business scores boost GDP?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 1011-1030.
    16. Manuel Carlos Nogueira & Mara Madaleno, 2021. "Are International Indices Good Predictors of Economic Growth? Panel Data and Cluster Analysis for European Union Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, May.
    17. Trey Malone & Antonios M. Koumpias & Per L. Bylund, 2019. "Entrepreneurial response to interstate regulatory competition: evidence from a behavioral discrete choice experiment," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 172-192, April.
    18. Slesman, Ly & Abubakar, Yazid Abdullahi & Mitra, Jay, 2021. "Foreign direct investment and entrepreneurship: Does the role of institutions matter?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    19. Rajeev K. Goel & Ummad Mazhar & Rati Ram, 2022. "Dimensions of size and corruption perceptions versus corruption experiences by firms in emerging economies," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 46(2), pages 374-396, April.
    20. Takaaki Masaki & Bradley C. Parks, 2020. "When do performance assessments influence policy behavior? Micro-evidence from the 2014 Reform Efforts Survey," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 371-408, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arh:jrujec:v:8:y:2022:i:2:p:122-158. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Teodor Georgiev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rujec.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.