We explore how the introduction of explicit deposit insurance affects deposit flows into and out of banks of varying risk levels. Using evidence from a natural experiment in Russia, we employ a difference-in-difference estimator to isolate the change in the deposit flows of the newly insured...

In nascent markets with relatively immature institutions, do depositors have the capacity to discipline banks with poor fundamentals? If so, what information specifically guides their response? Using a database from post-communist, pre-deposit-insurance Russia, we present evidence for...

Why are some lobby groups less benign in their external effects than others? Olson (1982) proposed that those that are less encompassing in the sense that their constituents collectively represent a narrower range of sectors are more apt to seek the types of subsidies, tariffs, tax loopholes and...

Drawing on a unique set of surveys, this article explores the question of whether Russia’s post-communist business associations are generally antithetical to or supportive of the broad objectives of economic restructuring. Contrary to the most widely cited analysis as to the purposes of...

We exploit panel data from the second phase of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) to investigate the household characteristics that explain saving during a period of extreme dislocation. Among our more noteworthy findings, we find evidence of short-term consumption smoothing...

What determines the mechanism chosen to resolve a commercial dispute? To what degree does the aggrieved recover damages? And does the relationship survive in the aftermath? The answers to these questions affect expectations as to the costs of transacting and, thereby, the development of markets....

The authors report on the results of a survey of current undergraduate instruction on the socialist economic system and post-socialist economies. Based on responses from eighty colleges and universities, they evaluate how course offerings and content have changed in light of the momentous...

This paper exploits a survey of manufacturing firms in five transitioning countries to evaluate the factors that affect whether or not information on contractual disputes between firms is disseminated to other market participants. We find that these reputation flows are channeled both through...

This note argues that the most commonly used estimates of the size of the unofficial economies in the former Soviet Republics are flawed. Most important, they are based on calculations that disregard the variation in unofficial economic activity across space in the pre-transition Soviet Union....