Red Executives in Russia's Transition Economy

Abstract

An American economist uses survey data—collected from more than 2,000 firms in Moscow, Rostov, Volgograd, and Novosibirsk between 1992 and 1995-to evaluate former state enterprise executives in terms of their ability to maintain or expand production and/or employment, as well as to maintain their position under the new conditions of Russia's transition economy. With regard to production and employment, such executives more often than not tend to fare poorly, whereas with respect to job security, they tend to be winners. Empirical data indicating significant variations by industry encompass the fuel and power sectors, metallurgy, machine-building, chemicals, forest products, construction/ building materials, printing, and food processing. The firms examined vary in size from 10,000 workers. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: LI, M2, P42. 8 tables, 24 references.