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Demand for Law and the Security of Property Rights: The Case of Post-Soviet Russia

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  • GANS-MORSE, JORDAN

Abstract

Studies of property rights overwhelmingly focus on whether states expropriate or protect property, overlooking the crucial issue of whether private sector actors will use state institutions. By contrast, I argue that the “supply†of formal legal institutions often fails to ensure firms will rely on the state for property rights protection. Instead, firms frequently avoid formal legal institutions and turn to illegal strategies based on violence or corruption. Whether firms adopt legal strategies depends on: (1) firm-level practices and beliefs that impede the use of law, (2) the effectiveness of illegal strategies, and (3) coordination problems resulting from firms’ expectations about each other’s strategies. Drawing on interviews with firms, lawyers, and private security agencies, as well as an original survey of Russian enterprises, I illustrate how “demand-side†factors led to a surprising increase in Russian firms’ reliance on formal legal institutions over the past two decades. The findings suggest that comprehensive understanding of property rights and the rule of law requires not only attention to state institutions’ effectiveness, but also to private actors’ strategies.

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  • Gans-Morse, Jordan, 2017. "Demand for Law and the Security of Property Rights: The Case of Post-Soviet Russia," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 111(2), pages 338-359, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:111:y:2017:i:02:p:338-359_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Natalia Vasilenok, 2018. "What Drives the Private Provision of Security: Evidence from Russian Regions," HSE Working papers WP BRP 197/EC/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    2. Finnegan David L., 2018. "Demand for Law in the African Private Sector," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 333-369, December.
    3. Marques II, I., 2017. "Vocational Education and the Practice of Public-Private Partnerships in Russia's Regions," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 198-207.
    4. Gavin Slade & Alexander Kupatadze, 2017. "Popular Punitiveness? Punishment and Attitudes to Law in Post-Soviet Georgia," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(6), pages 879-896, July.
    5. Andrew Delios & Edmund J. Malesky & Shu Yu & Griffin Riddler, 2024. "Methodological errors in corruption research: Recommendations for future research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(2), pages 235-251, March.
    6. Daniele Girardi & Roberto Veneziani & Susanne Wengle, 2023. "Great expectations: a tale of two transitions," Working Papers 968, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    7. Marques, Israel & Remington, Thomas & Bazavliuk, Vladimir, 2020. "Encouraging skill development: Evidence from public-private partnerships in education in Russia’s regions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Naqvi, Nadeem & Neumärker, Bernhard & Pech, Gerald, 2018. "Consolidated democracy, constitutional stability, and the rule of law," MPRA Paper 86316, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kubinec, Robert & Lee, Haillie Na-Kyung & Tomashevskiy, Andrey, 2021. "Why Corporate Political Connections Can Impede Investment," SocArXiv uks25, Center for Open Science.

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