Sergei Guriev - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Sergei Guriev
We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is s... more We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is still a problem, the available indirect evidence suggests privatization has resulted in an increase in personal wealth but also in personal wealth inequality - especially in the countries that lagged behind in building effective institutions. Another source of wealth inequality is the high income inequality due
Using the dataset on owners of largest Russian industrial firms created within Russia CEM 2003, w... more Using the dataset on owners of largest Russian industrial firms created within Russia CEM 2003, we study the degree of ownership concentration, its determinants and consequences for the economic performance of Russian industrial firms. In particular, we find that the conventional wisdom of the importance of 'oligarchs' is consistent with the data. In the sampled industrial firms (that account for
Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective, 2008
We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is s... more We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is still a problem, the available indirect evidence suggests privatization has resulted in an increase in personal wealth but also in personal wealth inequalityespecially in the countries that lagged behind in building effective institutions. Another source of wealth inequality is the high income inequality due to wage decompression coupled with the low saving rates among the poor. We pay a special attention to one of the most noticeable implications of this rise in personal wealth and wealth inequalitythe emergence of so called "oligarchs". Using the comprehensive dataset of Muscovites' incomes we show that surveys that do not take into account the first-and second-tier rich (billionaires and millionaires) may drastically underestimate inequality.
Russian Economic Trends, 1999
Mark Voronovitsky, as well as NES and EERC conference participants and seminar participants in Mo... more Mark Voronovitsky, as well as NES and EERC conference participants and seminar participants in Moscow and Stockholm for helpful comments. Financial support from the Ford Foundation, TACIS (TACIS ACE T95-4115-R), the Bank of Sweden and EERC are gratefully acknowledged.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Why are some trade agreements concluded for a limited period of time while others have the form o... more Why are some trade agreements concluded for a limited period of time while others have the form of evergreen contracts supplemented with an advance termination notice clause? We use a dynamic incomplete contracting model to demonstrate that the time structure of the trade agreement is related to the nature of the underlying trade-related investments (or other types of irreversible resource adjustments). If these investments are lumpy and specialized to trade in a particular homogeneous good, the agreements with the …xed term of duration are more likely. The …xed-term agreement provides incentives for the initial investment but leaves the parties the ‡exibility to revisit the need for future investment by resorting to renegotiation. If the agreement covers trade in goods or services requiring incremental investments with spillovers of the investment bene…ts across industries, there is a lower risk of overinvestment. Therefore, the parties are more likely to choose an evergreen agreement (with an advance termination notice or an escape clause). We show that these predictions are consistent with the econometric evidence on the trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
our colleagues at NES, CEFIR, and Princeton for helpful comments. We have also benefited from con... more our colleagues at NES, CEFIR, and Princeton for helpful comments. We have also benefited from constructive criticisms and suggestions
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT We propose a new channel through which expropriation risk reduces capital allocation eff... more ABSTRACT We propose a new channel through which expropriation risk reduces capital allocation efficiency and decreases firm growth. We build an agency model of corporate disclosure when companies face risks of expropriation. The model predicts that in countries with insecure property rights, corporations mitigate the risk of expropriation by reducing transparency. We test this channel by employing a difference-in-difference approach. Using a panel of over 16,000 firms from 84 countries, we find that transparency of companies prone to expropriation is lower in countries with insecure property rights. The reduced transparency has an adverse effect on the efficiency of capital allocation and corporate growth.
ABSTRACT We study general equilibrium in an economy with multiple means of payment characterized ... more ABSTRACT We study general equilibrium in an economy with multiple means of payment characterized by di®erent transactions costs and domains of circu- lation. We show that if transactions via universally accepted public money are costly, in equilibrium some agents use a 'quasi-money' that has lim- ited domain of circulation but lower transactions costs. We study e±ciency and uniqueness of general equilibrium in such an economy and characterize monetary and quasi-monetary prices. We show that such an equilibrium is e±cient but di®erent from the Arrow-Debreu one. We also study mu- tual trade credit as an alternative payment system. In the economy with trade credit there are multiple equilibria that are more e±cient than those without trade credit but still not as e±cient as Arrow-Debreu equilibrium, too.
In this Paper we study, both theoretically and empirically, the relationship between barter and t... more In this Paper we study, both theoretically and empirically, the relationship between barter and the indebtedness of Russian firms. We build a model in which a firm uses barter to protect its working capital against outside creditors even when barter involves high transaction ...
... We thank Akhmed Akhmedov, Clifford Geertz, Sergei Guriev, Andrew Kydd, Aleksey Makrushin, Eri... more ... We thank Akhmed Akhmedov, Clifford Geertz, Sergei Guriev, Andrew Kydd, Aleksey Makrushin, Eric Maskin, Shlomo Weber, and Ksenia Yudaeva for valuable comments. Moscow ... of the former Soviet Union. If in countries like Cuba, Burma, Egypt, Libya, North Korea, Zimbabwe ...
We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is s... more We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is still a problem, the available indirect evidence suggests privatization has resulted in an increase in personal wealth but also in personal wealth inequality - especially in the countries that lagged behind in building effective institutions. Another source of wealth inequality is the high income inequality due
Using the dataset on owners of largest Russian industrial firms created within Russia CEM 2003, w... more Using the dataset on owners of largest Russian industrial firms created within Russia CEM 2003, we study the degree of ownership concentration, its determinants and consequences for the economic performance of Russian industrial firms. In particular, we find that the conventional wisdom of the importance of 'oligarchs' is consistent with the data. In the sampled industrial firms (that account for
Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective, 2008
We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is s... more We discuss evolution of personal wealth in transition economies. While the data availability is still a problem, the available indirect evidence suggests privatization has resulted in an increase in personal wealth but also in personal wealth inequalityespecially in the countries that lagged behind in building effective institutions. Another source of wealth inequality is the high income inequality due to wage decompression coupled with the low saving rates among the poor. We pay a special attention to one of the most noticeable implications of this rise in personal wealth and wealth inequalitythe emergence of so called "oligarchs". Using the comprehensive dataset of Muscovites' incomes we show that surveys that do not take into account the first-and second-tier rich (billionaires and millionaires) may drastically underestimate inequality.
Russian Economic Trends, 1999
Mark Voronovitsky, as well as NES and EERC conference participants and seminar participants in Mo... more Mark Voronovitsky, as well as NES and EERC conference participants and seminar participants in Moscow and Stockholm for helpful comments. Financial support from the Ford Foundation, TACIS (TACIS ACE T95-4115-R), the Bank of Sweden and EERC are gratefully acknowledged.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Why are some trade agreements concluded for a limited period of time while others have the form o... more Why are some trade agreements concluded for a limited period of time while others have the form of evergreen contracts supplemented with an advance termination notice clause? We use a dynamic incomplete contracting model to demonstrate that the time structure of the trade agreement is related to the nature of the underlying trade-related investments (or other types of irreversible resource adjustments). If these investments are lumpy and specialized to trade in a particular homogeneous good, the agreements with the …xed term of duration are more likely. The …xed-term agreement provides incentives for the initial investment but leaves the parties the ‡exibility to revisit the need for future investment by resorting to renegotiation. If the agreement covers trade in goods or services requiring incremental investments with spillovers of the investment bene…ts across industries, there is a lower risk of overinvestment. Therefore, the parties are more likely to choose an evergreen agreement (with an advance termination notice or an escape clause). We show that these predictions are consistent with the econometric evidence on the trade agreements to which the U.S. is a party.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
our colleagues at NES, CEFIR, and Princeton for helpful comments. We have also benefited from con... more our colleagues at NES, CEFIR, and Princeton for helpful comments. We have also benefited from constructive criticisms and suggestions
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT We propose a new channel through which expropriation risk reduces capital allocation eff... more ABSTRACT We propose a new channel through which expropriation risk reduces capital allocation efficiency and decreases firm growth. We build an agency model of corporate disclosure when companies face risks of expropriation. The model predicts that in countries with insecure property rights, corporations mitigate the risk of expropriation by reducing transparency. We test this channel by employing a difference-in-difference approach. Using a panel of over 16,000 firms from 84 countries, we find that transparency of companies prone to expropriation is lower in countries with insecure property rights. The reduced transparency has an adverse effect on the efficiency of capital allocation and corporate growth.
ABSTRACT We study general equilibrium in an economy with multiple means of payment characterized ... more ABSTRACT We study general equilibrium in an economy with multiple means of payment characterized by di®erent transactions costs and domains of circu- lation. We show that if transactions via universally accepted public money are costly, in equilibrium some agents use a 'quasi-money' that has lim- ited domain of circulation but lower transactions costs. We study e±ciency and uniqueness of general equilibrium in such an economy and characterize monetary and quasi-monetary prices. We show that such an equilibrium is e±cient but di®erent from the Arrow-Debreu one. We also study mu- tual trade credit as an alternative payment system. In the economy with trade credit there are multiple equilibria that are more e±cient than those without trade credit but still not as e±cient as Arrow-Debreu equilibrium, too.
In this Paper we study, both theoretically and empirically, the relationship between barter and t... more In this Paper we study, both theoretically and empirically, the relationship between barter and the indebtedness of Russian firms. We build a model in which a firm uses barter to protect its working capital against outside creditors even when barter involves high transaction ...
... We thank Akhmed Akhmedov, Clifford Geertz, Sergei Guriev, Andrew Kydd, Aleksey Makrushin, Eri... more ... We thank Akhmed Akhmedov, Clifford Geertz, Sergei Guriev, Andrew Kydd, Aleksey Makrushin, Eric Maskin, Shlomo Weber, and Ksenia Yudaeva for valuable comments. Moscow ... of the former Soviet Union. If in countries like Cuba, Burma, Egypt, Libya, North Korea, Zimbabwe ...