Have Transition Economies Become More Efficient? Evidence from Russian and Czech Panel Data on Firms and Individuals

对于什么是从计划经济向市场经济的成功过渡、转型经济体的业绩如何以及哪些政策导致了观察到的业绩差异，存在着广泛的不同看法。本项目将通过提供俄罗斯和捷克共和国这两个代表不同转型模式的国家经济效率演变和决定因素的有力证据，促进我们对这一进程的理解。这两个经济体相似的初始条件和截然不同的转型经历为分析决定良好运作的市场演变的政策和其他因素提供了有用的背景。研究人员之所以能够进行这种分析，是因为他们有大量企业和工人的新的微观面板数据，这些企业和工人相互联系，跨越了共产主义制度的最后几年到过渡的第一个十年。研究项目将解决以下关键问题：（问题1）在转型期，企业效率如何变化？哪些类型的公司在效率方面表现出最大的绝对和相对收益，哪些公司正在亏损？正在确定关于效率的典型事实;将参照某一年该国的最佳做法和2000年西方公司在每个国家的做法，评估不同类型公司的生产效率。(Q.2)什么对效率更重要：所有权、经济自由化还是竞争？该项目确认了这些因素在确定效率水平和随时间变化方面的相对重要性。(Q.3)企业更替是否会用更有效率的企业取代效率最低的企业？每个公司的效率措施，用于评估是否进入公司比退出公司更有效率。分析表明，如果破产法和继续补贴减缓了清洗过程。(Q.4)劳动力再配置效率提高了吗？这项研究评估了工人是否从劳动力边际产品较低的公司转移到劳动力边际产品较高的公司，以及政府政策是否以积极的方式影响这些流动。 (Q.5)资本市场变得更有效率了吗？在转型之初，有些公司的资本存量过多，有些则不足。该项目评估了随后的投资行为是否纠正了这种错误配置。

There are widely divergent views of what constitutes a successful transition from a planned to a market economy, how well transition economies have performed, and what policies account for differences in observed performance. This project will contribute to our understanding of this process by providing rigorous evidence on the evolution and determinants of economic efficiency in two countries that represent divergent models of transition - Russia and the Czech Republic. Similar initial conditions and widely different transition experiences in these two economies provide a useful context for the analysis of policies and other factors determining the evolution of well-functioning markets. The researchers are able to carry out this analysis because they have new micro panel data on a large number of firms and workers that are linked and span the final years of the communist system through the first decade of the transition. The research project will address the following key questions:(Q.1) How has firm efficiency changed during the transition period? Which types of firms show the greatest absolute and relative gains in efficiency and which ones are losing out? Stylized facts on efficiency are being established; the productive efficiency of different types of firms will be assessed relative to the best practice in the country in a given year and the practice of western firms in each country in 2000. (Q.2) What matters more for efficiency: ownership, economic liberalization or competition? The project ascertains the relative importance of these factors in determining the levels and changes in efficiency over time.(Q.3) Does firm turnover replace the least efficient firms with more efficient ones? The efficiency measures derived for each firm are used to assess if entering firms are more efficient than exiting firms. The analysis shows if the bankruptcy laws and continuation of subsidies slowed down the cleansing process.(Q.4) Is labor reallocation efficiency enhancing? The research assesses if workers move from firms with low marginal products of labor to firms with higher marginal products of labor, and if government policy affects these flows in a positive way. (Q.5) Are capital markets becoming more efficient? At the start of the transition, some firms had excessive and some inadequate capital stock. The project evaluates whether subsequent investment behavior corrected this misallocation.