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Economic Reforms and Productivity-Enhancing Reallocation in the Post-Soviet Transition

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Listed:
  • Brown, J. David

    (U.S. Census Bureau)

  • Earle, John S.

    (George Mason University)

Abstract

How do economic reforms affect resource reallocation processes and their contributions to productivity growth? This paper studies the consequences of enterprise privatization and liberalization of product markets, labor markets, and imports in the former Soviet Republics of Russia and Ukraine. Analyzing interfirm reallocation of output, labor, capital, and an input index with annual industrial census data from 1985 to 2001, we find that Soviet Russia displayed low reallocation rates that bore little relationship to relative labor and multifactor productivity across firms. Since reforms began, resource flows have increased in both countries, and their contributions to aggregate productivity growth have become substantial both through increased flows from less productive to more productive continuing firms and through higher exits of less productive entities – i.e., through creative destruction. Among the policy-relevant factors that may explain firm-level variation, privatization is estimated to have positive effects on productivity-enhancing reallocation, but there is less evidence of such effects from domestic product market competition, labor market competition, or import penetration.

Suggested Citation

  • Brown, J. David & Earle, John S., 2004. "Economic Reforms and Productivity-Enhancing Reallocation in the Post-Soviet Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 1044, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1044
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    Cited by:

    1. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2004. "Employment regulations through the eyes of employers - do they matter and how do firms respond to them?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3463, The World Bank.
    2. Jaan Masso & Raul Eamets & Kaia Philips, 2004. "Firm Demographics And Productivity Dynamics In Estonia," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 25, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    3. Keane, Michael P. & Prasad, Eswar S., 2006. "Changes in the structure of earnings during the Polish transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 389-427, August.
    4. Tyrowicz, Joanna & van der Velde, Lucas, 2018. "Labor reallocation and demographics," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 381-412.
    5. Tom Coupé & Hannah Vakhitova, 2013. "Costs and Benefits of Labour Mobility between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Partner Countries. Country report: Ukraine," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 0464, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Eric J. Bartelsman & John Haltiwanger & Stefano Scarpetta, 2004. "Microeconomic Evidence of Creative Destruction in Industrial and Developing Countries," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-114/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. J David Brown & John S Earle, 2006. "Job Reallocation and Productivity Growth in the Ukrainian Transition," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 48(2), pages 229-251, June.
    8. Brown, J. David & Earle, John S., 2006. "The microeconomics of creating productive jobs : a synthesis of firm-level studies in transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3886, The World Bank.
    9. De Loecker, Jan & Konings, Jozef, 2006. "Job reallocation and productivity growth in a post-socialist economy: Evidence from Slovenian manufacturing," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 388-408, June.
    10. Pierre, Gaelle & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2007. "How labor market policies can combine workers'protection with job creation : a partial review of some key issues and policy options," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 41439, The World Bank.
    11. Masso, Jaan & Eamets, Raul & Philips, Kaia, 2004. "Creative Destruction and Transition: The Effects of Firm Entry and Exit on Productivity Growth in Estonia," IZA Discussion Papers 1243, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas van der Velde, 2014. "Can We Really Explain Worker Flows in Transition Economies?," Working Papers 2014-28, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    13. Kan, Viktoriya & カン, ビクトリヤ, 2010. "Regional Determinants of New Firm Formation in a Transition Economy: The Case of Uzbekistan," PIE/CIS Discussion Paper 490, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job creation; creative destruction; reallocation; productivity; Russia; Ukraine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population

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