ABSTRACT

To understand the divergent institutional development in transition economies, we examine the role of institutional experience from the pre-Soviet era in institution-building after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. To measure institutional experience, we construct an index that captures previous experience with independent non-Soviet institutions. A cross-sectional analysis shows that institutional experience is statistically significantly associated with the quality of political, administrative, and legal institutions in transition economies today. To provide a more comprehensive picture and to control for confounding factors, in a second step, we apply a Hausman–Taylor estimator on panel data. This analysis confirms the positive relationship between institutional experience and institutional development. Moreover, the results suggest that the association between institutional experience and political institutions is stronger than the association to the other dimensions of institutions. Overall, the analysis highlights the importance of institutional experience and provides a rationale for the persistency of institutions.

摘要

为了了解转型经济体中不同的制度发展，我们考察了苏联解体后苏联时期以前的制度经验在制度建设中的作用。为了衡量机构的经验，我们构建了一个指数，该指数反映了以前在独立的非苏联机构中的经验。横断面分析表明，制度经验与当今转型经济体中政治，行政和法律制度的质量在统计上显着相关。为了提供更全面的信息并控制混杂因素，第二步，我们在面板数据上应用了Hausman–Taylor估计量。这一分析证实了制度经验与制度发展之间的积极关系。而且，结果表明，制度经验和政治制度之间的联系比制度其他方面的联系要强。总体而言，该分析突出了机构经验的重要性，并为机构的持久性提供了理由。