Inside the Black Box: The Evolution of Internal Labor Markets During Economic Transition in Russian and Ukrainian Firms

我们分析了俄罗斯和乌克兰制造业大型企业的人事数据，以揭示苏联和后苏联企业在从中央计划经济向市场经济过渡期间的内部劳动组织。这是第一次尝试研究转型期经济体公司的详细人事记录。我们已经从一家俄罗斯大型制造公司1997年至2003年的人事记录中收集了一些数据。这些数据将通过汇编关于工人和职业特点的补充信息加以完善，并通过收集1990年至2008年期间的数据加以扩展。这将使我们能够分析在改革和转型的所有阶段内部劳动力市场的调整。此外，我们将以类似的格式从另外两家俄罗斯公司和至少一家乌克兰公司收集人员数据。我们是第一个提供经验证据的内部劳动力市场在转型经济体的运作。作为对西方内部劳动力市场文献的补充，我们将通过建立那些在任何制度设置和任何经济环境中普遍存在的内部劳动力市场模式以及那些特殊的模式来做出至关重要的贡献。分析转型期间企业内部发生的事情是一种建设性的方法，可以更好地理解经历大规模重组的企业的组织和行为转变。因此，实证研究也将为分析转型期经济体和面临重大结构变化的其他经济体提供宝贵的见解，从而对经济行为主体和决策者都有帮助。

We analyze personnel data of large Russian and Ukrainian firms in the manufacturing sector, in order to shed light on the internal organization of labor in Soviet and Post-Soviet firms during the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. This marks the first attempt of studying detailed personnel records of firms in transition economies. We have already collected some data from the personnel records of one large Russian manufacturing firm for 1997 through 2003. These data will be refined by compiling additional information on worker and career characteristics and extended by gathering data covering the period from 1990 until 2008. This will allow us to analyze the internal labor market adjustments during perestroika and all stages of transition. In addition, we will collect personnel data in a similar format from two more Russian firms and at least one Ukrainian firm. We are the first to provide empirical evidence on the functioning of internal labor markets in transition economies. Complementing the literature on Western internal labor markets, we will make a crucial contribution by establishing those patterns of internal labor markets that prevail in any institutional setting and any economic environment and those patterns that are idiosyncratic. Analyzing what happens inside firms during transition is a constructive method to better understand the organizational and behavioral shifts in firms that undergo large scale restructuring. Therefore, the empirical study will also provide valuable insights for the analysis of transition and of other economies facing a major episode of structural change and thus will be useful for economic agents as well as for policy makers.