Privatization, Competition, and Budget Constraints: Disciplining Enterprises in Russia

We investigate whether privatization, competitive forces, and the hardening of budget constraints played efficiency-enhancing roles in Russia in the immediate post-privatization period. We find evidence of a positive impact of privatization on labor productivity: a 10% point increase in private share ownership raises real sales per employee by 3–5%. The evidence on product market competition is weaker, depending on model specification. Soft budget constraints are usually found to reduce restructuring but the effect is small and insignificant. We find that in terms of their impacts on productivity, privatization and subsidy reduction are substitutes; privatization and competition (measured as the geographic scope of markets) are complements; and that competition and subsidy reduction are independent.     

Plagiarism, Academic Norms and the Governance of the Profession

Few would dissent from the view that plagiarism is an academic crime of the worst sort. Attention to the issue has been heightened recently by the growth of websites supplying 'off the peg' or customised research papers. This article argues that the definition and detection of plagiarism involves several complexities and that the resolution of the problem depends less on the development of coercive instruments to deal with the 'crime' than on the development of norms that emerge through reflective pedagogy and processes of academic socialisation.     

Regulation and brand value

Legal context. IP rights are dependent on the public policyconsiderations which provide the justification for their granting.However, when regulation impacts on the exercise of IP rights,there is often a clash of public policy considerations. Key points. This article considers what happens when that clashoccurs, concluding that, in all cases, IP rights will be trumpedby the public policy considerations which underlie the regulation,often with no basis for claiming compensation notwithstandingthe obvious and very real economic impact on the rights owner.Unfortunately, the markets do not always take this risk intoaccount when valuing premium brand companies. Practical significance. This conclusion may have serious implicationsfor premium brand companies, especially in heavily regulatedfields like alcohol, food, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco.