Russia

Ruta Aidis, Julia Korosteleva and Tomasz Mickiewicz 1. Introduction to Russia Russia is the world’s largest country, a nuclear superpower with unsurpassed energy resources. It is also a country which finds itself at the crossroads of possible development paths. Market-oriented mechanisms have been introduced but Soviet era laws remain on the books. Corruption has become a way of life and freedom of the press has been gradually eliminated in the early 2000s. Within this backdrop, private entrepreneurship has emerged, albeit in a distorted way. As the heart of the Soviet empire, Russia had tremendous control of enormous amounts of natural resources and human capital. Yet, 20 years ago, in the late 1980s, it was a country where entrepreneurship was marginal, the economy was stagnant and the ruling communist hierarchy had no clear formula for solving the deepening crisis. Unfortunately the reforms characterizing Russia’s attempts at rebuilding statehood after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, first under Mikhail Gorbachev and then Boris Y’eltsin, were inconsistent and did not foster macroeconomic stabilization. However, since 2000, under Vladimir Putin’s leadership, macroeconomic stabilization as well as institutional stability has been achieved. In addition, an unprecedented increase in the price and demand for oil and gas resources has resulted in a rapid growth of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP). Russia now has a large private sector, though not without its limitations. At first glance, ‘de jure’ regulations often seem reasonable, yet it is the selective and arbitrary manner by which they are...

Entrepreneurs, expectations and business expansion:lessons from Lithuania

This article applies a multinomial logit estimator to investigate which factors affect SME owners' expectations to grow their businesses in Lithuania. Our findings provide evidence that SME owners' human capital (education) matters and that growth expectations are positively related to exporting. In addition, we analyse the link between the perceptions of business constraints and growth expectations and find that the factors, which are perceived as main business barriers, are not necessarily those which are associated with reduced growth expectations. However, perceptions of corruption seem to affect growth expectations the most.

Growth expectations of business owners:impact of human capital, firm characteristics and environmental transition

This paper presents an empirical study based on a survey of 399 owners of small and medium size companies in Lithuania. Applying bivariate and ordered probit estimators, we investigate why some business owners expect their firms to expand, while others do not. Our main findings provide evidence that SME owner's generic and specific human capital matter. Those with higher education and 'learning by doing' attributes, either through previous job experience or additional entrepreneurial experience, expect their businesses to expand. The expectations of growth are positively related to exporting and non-monotonically to enterprise size. In addition, we analyse the link between the perceptions of constraints to business activities and growth expectations and find that the factors, which are perceived as main business barriers, are not necessary those which are associated with reduced growth expectations. In particular, perceptions of both corruption and of inadequate tax systems seem to affect growth expectations the most.

Which institutions encourage entrepreneurial growth aspirations?

We develop entrepreneurship and institutional theory to explain entrepreneurial growth aspirations across individuals and institutional contexts. Our framework generates hypotheses at the national level about the negative impact of higher levels of corruption, weaker property rights and greater government activity on entrepreneurs' aspirations to increase employment. We further explore whether individual's social networks compensate for weaknesses in national institutions. We use the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor surveys in 42 countries for 2001-2006, applying a multilevel estimation framework to test our ideas. We find that the relationship between growth aspiring entrepreneurs and institutions is complex; they benefit simultaneously from strong government (in the sense of property rights enforcement), and smaller government, but are constrained by corruption. Social networks mediate some but not all institutional deficiencies. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Performance analysis of ONOE protocol - an IEEE 802.11 link adaptation algorithm

Link adaptation (LA) plays an important role in adapting an IEEE 802.11 network to wireless link conditions and maximizing its capacity. However, there is a lack of theoretic analysis of IEEE 802.11 LA algorithms. In this article, we propose a Markov chain model for an 802.11 LA algorithm (ONOE algorithm), aiming to identify the problems and finding the space of improvement for LA algorithms. We systematically model the impacts of frame corruption and collision on IEEE 802.11 network performance. The proposed analytic model was verified by computer simulations. With the analytic model, it can be observed that ONOE algorithm performance is highly dependent on the initial bit rate and parameter configurations. The algorithm may perform badly even under light channel congestion, and thus, ONOE algorithm parameters should be configured carefully to ensure a satisfactory system performance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stakeholders' perceptions of corporate social reporting in Bangladesh

Recent calls in the corporate social reporting (CSRep) literature have emphasized the importance of giving voice to non-managerial stakeholder groups in the social reporting process. The research, presented in this paper, employs recent work in stakeholder theory and CSRep to examine the perceptions of a diverse set of non-managerial stakeholders in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals who identify with various non-managerial stakeholder groups. Interviewees generally believed that the motivation and practice of CSRep in Bangladesh is developing in response to pressures from international markets and is producing largely cosmetic responses. Also, they expressed concerns that, given the economic, political, and social conditions in Bangladesh, premature adoption of strict CSRep standards may lead to increased corruption and other unintended consequences. Whilst some of the interviewees sharply criticized the current process of imposing social accounting codes/standards on developing countries which fail to consider the important local socio-economic context, the findings suggest that there is overwhelming support for mandatory externally verified CSRep based on the principles of peoples' right to know, full disclosure/completeness, and relevance, which are anchored in the broader principles of transparency and stakeholder accountability. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Directly unproductive schooling:how country characteristics affect the impact of schooling on growth

The rapid rise in schooling in developing countries in recent decades has been dramatic. However, many cross-country regression analyses of the impact of schooling on economic growth find low and insignificant coefficients. This empirical 'puzzle' contrasts with theoretical arguments that schooling, through raising human capital, should raise income levels. This paper argues that poor results are to be expected when regression samples include countries that vary greatly in their ability to use schooling productively. Data on corruption, the black market premium on foreign exchange and the extent of the brain drain for developing countries are used as indicators of an economy's productive use of schooling. Regression analysis shows that the impact of secondary schooling on economic growth is substantially higher in countries that are adjudged to use schooling productivity.

Modeling link adaptation algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN networks

Link adaptation is a critical component of IEEE 802.11 systems. In this paper, we analytically model a retransmission based Auto Rate Fallback (ARF) link adaptation algorithm. Both packet collisions and packet corruptions are modeled with the algorithm. The models can provide insights into the dynamics of the link adaptation algorithms and configuration of algorithms parameters. It is also observed that when the competing number of stations is high, packet collisions can largely affected the performance of ARF and make ARF operate with the lowest date rate, even when no packet corruption occur. This is in contrast to the existing assumption that packet collision will not affect the correct operation of ARF and can be ignored in the evaluation of ARF. The work presented in this paper can provide guidelines on configuring the link adaptation algorithms and designing new link adaptation algorithms for future high speed 802.11 systems. © 2006 IEEE.

Exploration of metaphors used by Indonesian legislators and political elites in the Indonesian sociopolitical domain

This thesis examines the ways Indonesian politicians exploit the rhetorical power of metaphors in the Indonesian political discourse. The research applies the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Metaphorical Frame Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis to textual and oral data. The corpus comprises: 150 political news articles from two newspapers (Harian Kompas and Harian Waspada, 2010-2011 edition), 30 recordings of two television news and talk-show programmes (TV-One and Metro-TV), and 20 interviews with four legislators, two educated persons and two laymen. For this study, a corpus of written bahasa Indonesia was also compiled, which comprises 150 texts of approximately 439,472 tokens. The data analysis shows the potential power of metaphors in relation to how politicians communicate the results of their thinking, reasoning and meaning-making through language and discourse and its social consequences. The data analysis firstly revealed 1155 metaphors. These metaphors were then classified into the categories of conventional metaphor, cognitive function of metaphor, metaphorical mapping and metaphor variation. The degree of conventionality of metaphors is established based on the sum of expressions in each group of metaphors. Secondly, the analysis revealed that metaphor variation is influenced by the broader Indonesian cultural context and the natural and physical environment, such as the social dimension, the regional, style and the individual. The mapping system of metaphor is unidirectionality. Thirdly, the data show that metaphoric thought pervades political discourse in relation to its uses as: (1) a felicitous tool for the rhetoric of political leaders, (2) part of meaning-making that keeps the discourse contexts alive and active, and (3) the degree to which metaphor and discourse shape the conceptual structures of politicians‟ rhetoric. Fourthly, the analysis of data revealed that the Indonesian political discourse attempts to create both distance and solidarity towards general and specific social categories accomplished via metaphorical and frame references to the conceptualisations of us/them. The result of the analysis shows that metaphor and frame are excellent indicators of the us/them categories which work dialectically in the discourse. The acts of categorisation via metaphors and frames at both textual and conceptual level activate asymmetrical concepts and contribute to social and political hierarchical constructs, i.e. WEAKNESS vs.POWER, STUDENT vs. TEACHER, GHOST vs. CHOSEN WARRIOR, and so on. This analysis underscores the dynamic nature of categories by documenting metaphorical transfers between, i.e. ENEMY, DISEASE, BUSINESS, MYSTERIOUS OBJECT and CORRUPTION, LAW, POLITICS and CASE. The metaphorical transfers showed that politicians try to dictate how they categorise each other in order to mobilise audiences to act on behalf of their ideologies and to create distance and solidarity.

Fibre optic sensors for high speed hypervelocity impact studies and low velocity drop tests

The initial aim of this project was to develop a non-contact fibre optic based displacement sensor to operate in the harsh environment of a 'Light Gas Gun' (LGG), which can 'fire' small particles at velocities ranging from 1-8.4 km/s. The LGG is used extensively for research in aerospace to analyze the effects of high speed impacts on materials. Ideally the measurement should be made close to the centre of the impact to minimise corruption of the data from edge effects and survive the impact. A further requirement is that it should operate at a stand-off distance of ~ 8cm. For these reasons we chose to develop a pseudo con-focal intensity sensor, which demonstrated resolution comparable with conventional PVDF sensors combined with high survivability and low cost. A second sensor was developed based on 'Fibre Bragg Gratings' (FBG) which although requiring contact with the target the low weight and very small contact area had minimal effect on the dynamics of the target. The FBG was mounted either on the surface of the target or tangentially between a fixed location. The output signals from the FBG were interrogated in time by a new method. Measurements were made on composite and aluminium plates in the LGG and on low speed drop tests. The particle momentum for the drop tests was chosen to be similar to that of the particles used in the LGG.

Institutions matter: essays on the determinants and consequences of socio-political institutions

ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT This thesis seeks to contribute to the socio-political literature. It comprises of three individual chapters examining the determinants and consequences of different social-political institutional factors. Specifically, the first study combines game theoretical and empirical techniques to examine how bureaucrats favour other agents within their social group and the effects this will have on the level of corruption in the economy. To this end, I develop a simple model of allocation of time between economic activities and leisure (time spent building social network ties), to illustrate the underlying causal mechanism between social network and corruption. It shows that large social networks and low levels of economic activities provides the condition for high levels of corruption. However, the ability of the government to punish corruption through well-established laws and property rights enforcement acts as a deterrent to corruption. he second work also combines game theoretical and empirical techniques. It aims to clarify the relationship between the degree of competition and political influence of firms, paying particular attention to the level of government regulations that exist in the countries in which the firms operates. The interplay between economic and political institutions is vital to any analysis on understanding the workings of political influence. The third study is purely empirical. It examines the role of two types of business network, namely, political connections and business group affiliations on a firm’s performance. Evidence was provided on Chinese firms’ performance during the 2008 financial crisis.

A korrupció társadalmi és intézményi szerkezete

A tanulmány első részében a megbízó-megbízott-kliens modellt fogalmi keretként alkalmazva a korrupció négy ideáltípusát mutatjuk be: míg a vesztegetést és zsarolást a megbízott és kliens közti, addig a hűtlen kezelést és csalást a megbízó és megbízott közti tranzakcióként definiáljuk. A korrupció ezen alaptípusait irányított gráfok segítségével ábrázoljuk. Ezt követően a korrupciós ügyletek szereplőinek lehetséges (pl. a tranzakciós költségek és a lebukási kockázatok csökkentésére irányuló) motivációit vizsgáljuk, vagyis azt, hogy mely tényezők ösztönzik leginkább a korrupciós helyzetek szereplőit arra, hogy tranzakcióikat különböző típusú személyes, üzleti, politikai és egyéb intézményes kapcsolathálókba ágyazzák. A második részben – támaszkodva korábbi kutatásaink eredményeire – néhány tipikus magyarországi korrupciós tranzakció társadalmi és intézményi beágyazottságát mutatjuk be. Négy esettanulmányt elemzünk részletesen, a bemutatott tipikus (pl. pártfinanszírozáshoz, vagy engedélyek megszerzéséhez kapcsolódó) korrupciós hálózatokat pedig többszereplős, bonyolult és multiplex gráfokkal ábrázoljuk. Végül a komplex hálózatok evolúciós vonatkozásait a szereplők számának, a kapcsolatok komplexitásának, valamint a személyi és/vagy intézményi beágyazottság mértékének tükrében vizsgáljuk. ______ In the first part of the paper four idealtypical corruption transactions are explicated in terms of the principal-agent-client model: bribery and extortion are described as two different types of agent-client relationship, while embezzlement and fraud as two different types of principal-agent relationship. The main idea is to describe these elementary corruption transactions as simple directed graphs. The next section of the paper takes into consideration different kinds of possible motivations (such as the reduction of risks or transaction costs) of the principals, agents and clients, in order to embed their corruption transactions in various kinds of personal, business, political and other institutional networks. In the second part of the paper some typical and stable network configurations are presented, based on a recent empirical corruption research carried out in Hungary. Certain corruption cases (such as party financing or granting of permit) are analyzed in details, and are described as complex and multiple networks. The paper concludes in showing some signs of the evolution of corruption networks in Hungary in terms of the number of actors, of the complexity of network configurations, of the level of personal or institutional embeddedness, and of the multiplexity of relationships.

Are parliaments with more parties cheaper to bribe?

We collect data about 172 countries: their parliaments, level of corruption, perceptions of corruption of parliament and political parties. We find weak empirical evidence supporting the conclusion that corruption increases as the number of parties increases. To provide a theoretical explanation of this finding we present a simple theoretical model of parliaments formed by parties, which must decide whether to accept or reject a proposal in the presence of a briber, who is interested in having the bill passed. We compute the number of deputies the briber needs to persuade on average in parliaments with different structures described by the number of parties, the voting quota, and the allocation of seats among parties. We find that the average number of seats needed to be bribed decreases as the number of parties increases. Restricting the minimal number of seats a party may have, we show that the average number of seats to be bribed is smaller in parliaments without small parties. Restricting the maximum number of seats a party may have, we find that under simple majority the average number of seats needed to be bribed is smaller for parliaments in which one party has majority, but under qualified majority it hardly changes.

A fair tax (system) or an ethical taxpayer?

An interpretation of fairness based on the equal sacrifice principle is not clear; three taxation rules can be derived from it. Instead of searching for a fair tax system, ethical behavior of the taxpayer should be expected and set as a target. Ethical taxation can be encouraged and the propensity to pay taxes could be reinforced by abolishing the secrecy of individual and family tax returns, setting restrictions on cash operations which are associated with corruption, and gradually eliminating tax havens and offshore areas.

Járadékteremtés és az áldemokráciák = Rent creation and pseudo-democracies

Tanulmányunkban egy olyan rendszerrel foglalkozunk, amely köztes helyet foglal el a demokrácia és az autokrácia között, mindkettő jegyeit magán viseli, és amelyet ezért áldemokráciának nevezünk. A rendszer működési sajátosságait a járadékok szemszögéből vizsgáljuk, és arra keressük a választ, hogy demokratikus országokban hogyan képes egy párt tartósan domináns pozícióban maradni. Modellünk segítségével összekapcsoljuk a járadékteremtést a szavazatok maximalizálásának céljával, és bemutatjuk, miért jelenthet racionális döntést a hatalmon lévők számára a rövid távú optimumon túlmutató járadékteremtés is. A modell rávilágít arra, hogy a többletjáradékok segítségével a kormányzat - klientúrája megerősítése, a demokratikus rendszer határainak feszegetése, valamint az ellenzék visszaszorítása révén - hosszú távú előnyökre tehet szert, áldemokráciát hozva létre. Történelmi példák jól mutatják, hogy a rendszer bukását végül általában a gyengébb gazdasági teljesítmény és a korrupció széles körűvé válása kényszeríti ki. _____ The paper focuses on a specific political system lying between democracy and autocracy, which has similarities to both. Called here a pseudo-democracy, it is examined from the point of view of rents. The paper enquires how a democracy can allow a single party to dominate the political landscape for a long period. The author constructs a model to link rent creation to vote maximization, arguing that it can be rational for incumbents to increase rents beyond the short-term optimum. The model also reveals that surplus rents may offer long-term gains to an elite by strengthening its clientčle, challenging the systemic political framework and holding back the opposition. Historical examples show that the end-result of a pseudo-democratic system will usually be to weaken economic performance and increase corruption.