Entrepreneurship and institutional change in Post-socialist rural areas - Some evidence from Russia and the Ukraine

Are entrepreneurs in rural areas of Russia and the Ukraine any different from their urban based counterparts? What are the implications of the distinctiveness of rural entrepreneurship upon the institutional setting – given the weakness of the State? We focus upon the experience of rural areas of Novosibirsk and the Republic of Bashkortostan in Russia and Transcarpathia in the Ukraine. We argue that whilst in urban settings the advancement of post-socialist transformation resulted in increased diversity in the type of individual engaged in entrepreneurship. This raises concerns about the pace and direction of change in rural areas. However, even within the three localities under investigation there appears to be a growing divergence in the pathways of change.