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

关于什么是从计划经济向市场经济的成功过渡，过渡经济的表现如何，以及什么政策造成了观察到的表现差异，存在着广泛的分歧。这个项目将有助于我们对这一进程的理解，因为它为两个代表不同转型模式的国家——俄罗斯和捷克共和国——的经济效率演变和决定因素提供了严谨的证据。这两个经济体相似的初始条件和迥然不同的转型经历为分析决定运作良好的市场演变的政策和其他因素提供了有益的背景。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，这些数据从共产主义制度的最后几年到转型的第一个十年都有联系。该研究项目将解决以下关键问题：1)转型期企业效率发生了怎样的变化？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，哪些公司则处于劣势？关于效率的程式化事实正在确立；不同类型公司的生产效率将相对于某年该国的最佳做法和2000年每个国家的西方公司的做法进行评估。（问题2）所有制、经济自由化还是竞争，哪个对效率更重要？该项目确定了这些因素在决定效率水平和随时间变化方面的相对重要性。3)企业更替是否会使效率较低的企业取代效率较高的企业？每个企业的效率度量被用来评估进入的企业是否比退出的企业更有效率。分析表明，破产法和持续的补贴是否减缓了清理过程。4)劳动力再配置效率是否提高？该研究评估了工人是否从劳动边际产品低的企业转移到劳动边际产品高的企业，以及政府政策是否以积极的方式影响这些流动。（问题5）资本市场是否变得更有效率？在转型之初，有的企业资本存量过剩，有的企业资本存量不足。该项目评估后续的投资行为是否纠正了这种错配。

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.