Keeping Shop: How Does Law Help?
Posted: 22 Apr 1999
Date Written: March 1999
Abstract
From relatively similar starting points the Warsaw and Moscow city governments both conducted economic reform strategies, but the legal and economic environments now differ dramatically. Previous research shows that shopkeepers in Moscow are far more likely to hire private protection rackets, to need to use courts, and to bear a much higher regulatory burden than their counterparts in Warsaw. The present study addresses the next logical question: given the difference in legal environments, how different are subsequent costs faced by shopkeepers in the two cities? The answer suggests a measure of the value that economic actors place on the rule of law.
JEL Classification: P21
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation