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Ownership and Corporate Control in Poland: Why State Firms Defied the Odds

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  • Pinto, Brian
  • van Wijnbergen, Sweder

Abstract

We present evidence of major adjustment efforts in the State sector in Poland well before privatization. Extensive survey evidence is used both to establish this point and to find an answer to the question why managers instigated such reforms in spite of the absence of an effective ownership structure. We find both the government and, importantly, commercial banks, exercised strong governance: the government through its refusal to give open-ended subsidies and a tax-based wage policy, the effectiveness of which we establish using econometric techniques; and the banks through their discretion in allocating new funds. We also show that banks started to discipline their borrowers only after strong governance reforms for the banks themselves were instituted.

Suggested Citation

  • Pinto, Brian & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 1995. "Ownership and Corporate Control in Poland: Why State Firms Defied the Odds," CEPR Discussion Papers 1273, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:1273
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    1. Sweder van Wijnbergen, 1993. "Enterprise reform in Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 1(1), pages 21-38, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Budina, Nina & Garretsen, Harry & Jong, Eelke de, 1999. "Liquidity constraints and investment in transition economies : the case of Bulgaria," Research Report 00E05, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. Frydman, R. & Hessel, M. & Rapaczynski, A., 2000. "Why Ownership Matters? Entrepreneurship and the Restructuring of Enterprises in Central Europe," Working Papers 00-03, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    3. Ann P. Bartel and Ann E. Harrison & Ann P. Bartel and Ann E. Harrison, 1999. "Ownership Versus Environment: Why are Public Sector Firms Inefficient?," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 257, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    4. Raiser, Martin, 1995. "Decentralisation, autonomy and efficiency: Inconsistent reforms and enterprise performance in China," Kiel Working Papers 689, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Yurii Perevalov & Ilya Gimadii & Vladimir Dobrodei, 2000. "Does Privatisation Improve Performance of Industrial Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from Russia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 337-363.
    6. Brown, J David & Earle, John, 2001. "Privatization, Competition and Reform Strategies: Theory and Evidence from Russian Enterprise Panel Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 2758, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Berglof, Erik & Roland, Gerard, 1998. "Soft Budget Constraints and Banking in Transition Economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 18-40, March.
    8. Ann P. Bartel & Ann E. Harrison, 2005. "Ownership Versus Environment: Disentangling the Sources of Public-Sector Inefficiency," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 135-147, February.
    9. Djankov, Simeon & Pohl, Gerhard, 1997. "The restructuring of large firms in Slovakia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1758, The World Bank.
    10. Roland, Gerard & Sekkat, Khalid, 2000. "Managerial career concerns, privatization and restructuring in transition economies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1857-1872, December.
    11. Nigel Harris & David Lockwood, 1997. "The war-making state and privatisation," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(5), pages 597-634.
    12. Claessens,Constantijn A. & Djankov, Simeon, 1998. "Politicians and firms in seven central and eastern European countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1954, The World Bank.
    13. Jacek Kochanowicz & Piotr Kozarzewski & Richard Woodward, 2005. "Understanding Reform: The Case of Poland," CASE Network Reports 0059, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    14. Dobrodey Vladimir & Gimadi Ilya & Perevalov Yuri, 2001. "The Impact of Privatisation on the Performance of Medium and Large Industrial Enterprises," EERC Working Paper Series 2k/01e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    15. Frydman, Roman & Gray, Cheryl & Hessel, Marek P. & Rapaczynski, Andrzej, 1998. "When Does Privatization Work? The Impact of Private Ownership on Corporate Performance in the Transition Economies," Working Papers 98-32, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    16. repec:dgr:rugsom:00e05 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Frydman, Roman & Gray, Cheryl W. & Hessel, Marek & Rapaczynski, Andrzej, 1997. "Private ownership and corporate performance : some lessons from transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1830, The World Bank.
    18. Josef C. Brada, 1996. "Privatization Is Transition--Or Is It?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 67-86, Spring.
    19. Steven M. Fries, 1995. "Enterprise Restructuring and Control in Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 3(1), pages 115-121, March.
    20. Brauer, Holger & Falk, Martin & Raiser, Martin, 1996. "Labour markets in Poland and Hungary five years from the start of transition: Evidence from monthly data," Kiel Working Papers 742, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    21. Gerald A. McDermott, 2004. "The Politics of Institutional Learning and Creation: Bank Crises and Supervision in East Central Europe," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp726, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    22. Q. Fan & U. Lee & M.E. Schaffer, 1996. "Firms, Banks and Credit in Russia," CERT Discussion Papers 9609, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Control; Corporate Governance; Privatization; State Enterprises; Transition Economies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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