Firm performance and privatization in Ukraine

Investigating the effects of privatization in transition countries is the focus of a large body of current research. Generally, privatization stimulates private sector development, attracts foreign direct investment, fosters competition and contributes to the formation of stock markets. In addition, privatization may improve individual enterprises’ performance. This paper investigates the impact of privatization on Ukrainian firms’ productivity. The empirical research is based on a sample of 466 Ukrainian joint-stock enterprises for the period of 1997–1999. Estimation results indicate that privatization positively influences labor productivity, sales and profitability, but also that these effects diminish over time.

Information exchange through non-binding advance price announcements: an antitrust analysis

We study the welfare effects of non-binding advance price announcements. Applying a simulation-based approach in a differentiated Bertrand model with horizontal products and asymmetric information, we find that such announcements can help firms to gain information on each other thereby allowing them to achieve higher profits. However, our results also show that the overall welfare effects of such announcements in a context of heterogeneous products are not as clear-cut as previous research in a homogeneous products framework has suggested. We conclude that—although non-binding advance price announcements may raise competition concerns—in many settings, their positive effects are likely to outweigh the potential detrimental effects on welfare.     

Book reviews

Mike Marqusee, REDEMPTION SONG: MUHAMMAD ALI AND THE SPIRIT OF THE SIXTIES (Verso Books, 1999)

Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, and Laura Whitehorn, ENEMIES OF THE STATE, (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Resistance in Brooklyn Publication, 1998). Meyer, c/o WRL, 339 Lafayette Street, NY 10012 or mmmsrnb@igc.org.

Viviane Forrester, THE ECONOMIC HORROR (Cambridge, UK: The Polity Press [in association with Oxford, UK, and Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers], 1999).

Peter Roman, PEOPLE'S POWER: CUBA'S EXPERIENCE WITH REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999).

Stanislao G. Pugliese, CARLO ROSSELLI: SOCIALIST HERETIC AND ANTIFASCIST EXILE (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999).     

Do African Manufacturing Firms Learn from Exporting?

We use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to investigate whether exporting impacts on efficiency, and whether efficient firms self-select into the export market. Based on simultaneous estimation of a production function and an export regression, our preferred results indicate significant efficiency gains from exporting, which can be interpreted as learning by exporting. We show that modelling unobserved heterogeneity by a flexible approach is important for deriving this conclusion. A policy implication of our results is that Africa would gain from orientating its manufacturing sector towards exporting.     

The Effects of Competition Policy on Development – Cross-Country Evidence Using Four New Indicators

Over the last two decades, many developing countries have introduced competition policies. This paper introduces four new indicators on various aspects of competition laws and competition agencies to make competition policies comparable. These indicators are used to estimate the effects of competition policies and all four contribute at least marginally to explaining differences in total factor productivity. This is also true if developing countries are analysed separately. In addition to the direct effects of competition policy on total factor productivity, an indirect effect is identified: countries scoring high with regard to competition policy suffer less from corruption.     

Changing Living Standards in Southern Indian Villages 1975–2006: Revisiting the ICRISAT Village Level Studies

We study changes in living conditions using longitudinal data covering 30 years in six villages in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, initially surveyed during 1975–1984, and resurveyed in recent years, as part of the ICRISAT Village Level Studies. Monetary welfare indicators (such as incomes, assets, consumption and poverty) and non-monetary indicators of well-being (such as basic literacy, education, health and subjective well-being) have improved considerably. Consumption growth is linked to literacy and education at baseline. Other assets, such as land, have a neglible impact, suggesting that labour and human capital have been instrumental for growth in these villages.Change involved a large increase in various off-farm activities.     

The Making and Remaking of Agro-Industries in Africa

This article introduces the special section on the making and remaking of agro-industries in Africa. It examines what the contributions tell us about how agro-industries work, but also why national industries work the way they do, how they came to be that way and what factors and forces drive or hinder their dynamism.