This paper examines the interaction between income diversion and firm performance. Using unique Russian banking transaction data, I identify 42,483 spacemen, fly-by-night firms created specifically for income diversion. Next, I build a direct measure of income diversion for 45,429 companies and...

This paper examines the interaction between propensity to corrupt (PTC) and firm performance. First, I use unique data from Moscow traffic violations to build an individual measure of PTC for every Muscovite with a driver's license (3.1 million people). Next, I determine the PTC for the...

Modern autocracies today hold elections but employ a number of tactics to control election outcomes. In response to unfairness of elections, opposition may organize negative campaign to persuade the electorate to vote against a regime candidate. The goal of this paper is to measure the...

Using a direct estimate of income diversion for a large sample of Russian firms from 1999 through 2004, we show that an increase in tax enforcement after Putin's election in 2000 is associated with a decrease in the appropriation of private rents by insiders both in firms explicitly targeted as...

Using a unique database of banking transactions, I examine the relationship between auditing and income diversion in a sample of 25,824 companies. In contrast to other studies, my methodology enables me to accurately measure corporate theft and observe the fees charged by auditors, which are not...