Privatization Versus Competition: Changing Enterprise Behavior in Russia

Abstract

We investigate whether competitive forces and privatization have yet began to play an efficiency-enhancing role in Russia. We also explore the economic effects of harder budget constraints on enterprise behavior. The empirical work is based on a large enterprise panel of Russian firms 1990-94, representing around 10% of Russian manufacturing output. We conclude that privatization is having an impact on enterprise efficiency and restructuring but domestic market structure and harder budget constraints for the most part are not. Intriguingly, Russian firms are found to be sensitive to the degree of import penetration.