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Government Financial Transfers and Enterprise Adjustments in Russia

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  • M Schaffer

Abstract

This paper analyses the adjustments of state-owned enterprises in Russia to the economic reforms started in early 1992, drawing on evidence from enterprise visits, larger enterprise surveys, and aggregate data on the enterprise sector, and making direct comparisons to comparable experiences in Poland, Hungary and the (former) CSFR, the leaders in transition from socialism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We find that enterprise adjustment in Russia has broadly followed the pattern observed in the leading CEE economies in transition. Demand and output have dropped, and many enterprises have changed their product mix in response without substantial new investment; firms are looking for new customers, though progress in terms of exports is still limited; they are containing wage costs and shedding labour, albeit more slowly than firms in the CEE countries; the levels of interenterprise credit (payables and receivables) has increased but has stabilized at levels comparable to those observed both in other transition countries as well as in West European economies; enterprises have been moving payment methods and avoiding extending trade credit if possible. However, there are also signs that adjustment in the enterprise sector is uneven, that the overall pace of adjustment is low by CEE standards, and that governmental transfers are behind this. Whereas financial environment of enterprises is still soft, and the state is the source of this softness. The financial transfers to enterprises take two forms: subsidies, and directed credits. The case of directed state credits is analyzed in some detail, and evidence is presented suggesting that they are allocated accordingly to "need" meaning that the recipient enterprise is in financial difficulties and/or it is politically important.

Suggested Citation

  • M Schaffer, 1994. "Government Financial Transfers and Enterprise Adjustments in Russia," CEP Discussion Papers dp0191, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0191
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    Cited by:

    1. Stanislaw Gomulka, 1994. "Lessons from Economic Transformation and the Road Forward," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0017, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    2. M. Busse, 1994. "Restructuring and Recovery of Output in Russia," Working Papers wp94090, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
    3. Freinkman, Lev & Haney, Michael, 1997. "What affects the Russian regional governments'propensity to subsidize?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1818, The World Bank.
    4. Nikitin, Maxim, 2000. "An Arrears Crisis and Stabilization Failure in a Transition Economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 665-699, December.
    5. Anderson, James H. & Korsun, Georges & Murrell, Peter, 2000. "Which Enterprises (Believe They) Have Soft Budgets? Evidence on the Effects of Ownership and Decentralization in Mongolia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 219-246, June.
    6. Milan Nikolic & Jacek Rostowski, 1995. "Exit in the Framework of Macro-economic Shocks and Policy Responses during Transition: a Cross-country Comparison," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0056, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Lücke, Matthias, 1994. "Beschäftigungsstruktur und realwirtschaftliche Anpassung in der ehemaligen Sowjetunion," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 1614, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Lehmann,Hartmut, 1995. "Active labor market policies in the OECD and in selected transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1502, The World Bank.

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