New Democratic Institutions and Corruption in Post-Communist Countries (Research Brief)

Two stylized facts characterize government support of business activity in the postcommunist world: 1) new and small firms generally receive less support from government officials (as evidenced by the fact that they are obliged to pay more in bribes, are less likely to have contracts enforced, etc.) than old and large firms, and 2) the environment for business is generally worse in the former Soviet Union than it is in Eastern Europe. My research provides a partial explanation for these two phenomena.

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Scott Gelbach, of the University of California at Berkeley, was a 2001-02 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellow.