To Divest or not to Divest? Social Assets in Russian Firms

In the planned economy firms were made responsible for providing their workers with social services, such as housing, day care and medical care. In the transforming Russia of the 1990s, social assets were to be transferred from industrial enterprises to the public sector. A law on divestment was put into force but it provided mostly general principles. Thus, for a period of several years, property rights over a major part of social assets, most notably housing, were not properly defined as the transfer decisions were largely left for the local level players to make. Strikingly, the time when assets were divested varied considerably across firms. In this paper we take a political economy approach and utilize recent survey data from 404 medium and large industrial enterprises in 40 Russian regions to study the effects different forms of bargaining between the firm and the municipality may have on the timing decisions. In particular, we apply survival data analysis to explore the determinants of the divestiture timing. Our results show that the firms which divested assets later receive more benefits from the local authorities, especially in places where there are more benefits to extract (i.e. the local budget is richer). Further, we find evidence that the firms which transferred assets later performed relatively worse in 2002 in terms of profitability, productivity and investments. Finally, the data shows that poorly defined property rights have an adverse effect on the incentives to invest in social assets, and hence on the quality of public service provision.

Monitoring regional differences in Northwest Russia

The paper presents the idea and results of a joint Finnish-Russian project on economic monitoring of Northwest Russia financed by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The regions monitored include the Murmansk region, the Karelian Republic, the Leningrad region, St.Petersburg, the Kaliningrad and the Novgorod regions. First, in the paper, the aims and operation of the monitoring project are presented. The aim is to provide regular, comprehensive and comparable information on production and demand indicators, on foreign relations, and on public sector and social developments in the regions. The bi-annual publication is the first of its kind at this detailed level. The statistical, analytical and qualitative insights are targeted at a wide international audience. Second, the development trends in the monitored regions are reviewed. It is demonstrated that the regions are gradually and slowly recovering from the economic shock caused by the breakdown of the socialist system. Also, the regions have gone through a painful and thorough restructuring, with drastic drops in production and the share of the service sector increasing. Regional differences in restructuring are pointed out. St Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region have become a center of food production, with the help of strong domestic demand and relatively high foreign investment flows. The development in other industries such as electronics is promising as well. Karelia and Murmansk, in turn, have been vulnerable to the world market development of their main export products, which has reflected to the general economic development of the regions. Kaliningrad region’s special status shows in the importance of foreign trade and investment. Third, the paper raises the issue of uneven regional development. Northwest Russia is characterized by a rather clear North-South divide, with the Southernmost regions winning the Northern ones by virtually all indicators. In addition to economic growth and development, this difference is seen in, for example, unemployment levels and demographic trends. The paper concludes with discussing the need for qualitative research topics to highlight the actual social processes underlying the socio-economic restructuring in Northwest Russia. Also, comprehensive micro-level quantitative analysis would greatly add to the understanding of the economic processes, as to date it has mostly based on macro-level indicators.

Bribes and local fiscal autonomy in Russia

Russian industrial enterprises inherited from the Soviet era a tradition of producing welfare and infrastructure services within the firm, also for outside users. Despite the massive restructuring of the economy that took place since, many firms are still active in service provision. At the same time, opaque fiscal federalism is a problem for municipalities whereas rent extraction by public sector officials is a problem for firms. In this paper we examine whether there is a link between these phenomena. We propose a model on local fiscal incentives, service provision by firms and the municipality-firm relationship in the form of bribes. Using survey data from 404 medium and large industrial enterprises in 40 regions of Russia, we find that the higher the share of own revenues in the local budget, the more likely the firms are to report bribes. In the case of infrastructure services, the data also support the hypothesis that the channel is through service provision: the less fiscal autonomy, the more service provision and the less likely the firms are to report bribes.local fiscal incentives; corruption; service provision; Russia; firm survey

Equilibrium exchange rates in oil-dependent countries

We assess the determinants of equilibrium real exchange rates in a sample of oil-dependent countries. Our basic data cover OPEC countries from 1975 to 2005. We also include three oil-producing Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in our robustness analysis. Utilising several estimation techniques, including pooled mean group and mean group estimators, we find that the price of oil has a clear, statistically significant effect on real exchange rates in our group of oil-producing countries. Higher oil price lead to appreciation of the real exchange rate. Elasticity of the real exchange rate with respect to the oil price is typically between 0.4 and 0.5, but may be larger depending on the specification. Real per capita GDP, on the other hand, does not appear to have a clear effect on real exchange rate. This latter result contrasts starkly with the consensus view of real exchange rates determinants, emphasising the unique position of oil-dependent countries.equilibrium exchange rate; pooled mean group estimator; resource dependency

Non-wage benefits, costs of turnover, and labor attachment: evidence from Russian firms

Just as in established market economies, many Russian firms provide non-wage benefits such as housing, medical care or day care to their employees. Interpreting this as a strategic choice of firms in an imperfect labor market, this paper examines unique survey data for 404 large and medium-size industrial establishments from 40 Russian regions. We find strong evidence that Russian industrial firms use social services to reduce the costs of labor turnover in the face of tight labor markets. The strongest effect is observed for blue-collar workers. We also find that the share of non-monetary compensation decreases with improved access to local social services.Non-wage benefits, labor turnover, labor attachment, Russia

Non-wage benefits, costs of turnover, and labor attachment: Evidence from Russian firms

Just as in established market economies, many Russian firms provide non-wage benefits such as housing, medical care or day care to their employees. Interpreting this as a strategic choice of firms in an imperfect labor market, this paper examines unique survey data for 404 large and medium-size industrial establishments from 40 Russian regions. We find strong evidence that Russian industrial firms use social services to reduce the costs of labor turnover in the face of tight labor markets. The strongest effect is observed for blue-collar workers. We also find that the share of non-monetary compensation decreases with improved access to local social services.non-wage benefits; labor turnover; labor attachment; Russia

Lobbying at the local level: Social assets in Russian firms

IIn the planned economy firms were made responsible for providing their workers with so-cial services, such as housing, day care and medical care. In the transforming Russia of the 1990s, social assets were to be transferred from industrial enterprises to the public sector. The law on divestment provided little more than general principles. Thus, for a period of several years, property rights concerning a major part of social assets, most notably hous-ing, were not properly defined, as transfer decisions were largely left to the local level players. Strikingly, the time when assets were divested varied considerably across firms. In this paper we utilize recent survey data from 404 medium and large industrial enterprises in 40 Russian regions and apply survival data analysis to explore the determinants of dives-titure timing. Our results show that in municipalities with higher shares of own revenues in their budget and thus weaker fiscal incentives, firms used their social assets as leverage to extract budget assistance and other forms of preferential treatment from local authorities. We also find evidence that less competitive firms were using social assets to cushion them-selves from product market competition. At the same time, we do not find any role for lo-cal labor market conditions in the divestment process.housing divestment; lobbying; firms; muncipalities; Russia

The role of banks in monetary policy transmission: Empirical evidence from Russia

This paper focuses on the role of the banking sector in monetary policy transmission in an emerging economy with a rapidly developing financial system. Specifically, we exam whether the central bank's monetary policy stance affects banks' lending behaviour. Based on a comprehensive quarterly dataset on all Russian banks from 1Q1999 to 1Q2007, we find evidence for the existence of a bank lending channel in Russia. Contrary to several studies on developed economies, the level of a bank's capitalization matters for the transmission process. Better capitalized banks are less likely to adjust their lending practices following a change in the monetary policy stance.monetary policy transmission; bank lending; Russia