Loans for shares" revisited
By: Daniel Treisman
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 15819; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 15819.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Description: "The "loans for shares" scheme of 1995-6-in which a handful of well-connected businessmen bought stakes in major Russian companies-is widely considered a scandal that slowed subsequent Russian economic growth.  Fifteen years later, I reexamine the details of the program.  In light of evidence available today, I concur with the critics that the scheme's execution appeared corrupt.  However, in most other regards the conventional wisdom was wrong.  The stakes involved represented a small fraction of the market; the pricing in most cases was in line with international practice; and the scheme can only explain a small part of Russia's increasing wealth inequality.  The biggest beneficiaries were not the so-called "oligarchs," but Soviet era industrial managers.  After the oligarchs consolidated control, their firms performed far better than comparable state enterprises and companies sold to incumbent managers, and helped fuel Russia's rapid growth after 1999"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 3/23/2010.

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