HSE Seminar on Political Economy: Leonid Polishchuk (HSE) about the differences to the political environments at the time of reforms

Leonid Polishchuk (HSE) traced differences to the political environments at the time of reforms, when restriction of checks and balances was considered instrumental to expediting unpopular transformations and protecting the reforms from populist backlash.

Topic: Post-Communist Transition as a Critical Juncture: Political Origins of Institutional and Cultural Bifurcation

coauthor: Kharis Sokolov (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract:

Quarter of a century after market reforms, transition countries exhibit vastly different economic and political institutions. We trace these differences to the political environments at the time of reforms, when restriction of checks and balances was considered instrumental to expediting unpopular transformations and protecting the reforms from populist backlash. However, the representation vacuum at the critical juncture of post-communist transition was filled by narrow interests, which established extractive institutions serving the elites, instead of inclusive institutions, which are in broad societal interests. Choices made at critical junctures were pivotal for subsequent institutional trajectories, and extractive and inclusive regimes sustained themselves over long periods. We use the number of “veto players” in the early 1990s as a measure of political ‘plurality’ of post-communist transition, and show that it is a consistently strong predictor of institutional quality over the ensuing quarter of a century. We also demonstrate that the same transition plurality measure explains cross-country differences in economic inequality across the post-communist region, and uneven social support of market and democracy, indicating ongoing “institutional learning”.

the joint seminar of Higher School of Economics on political economy, International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development (ICSID) and NES Center for the Study of Diversity and Social Interaction (NES CSDSI) was held on April 16.

Moderators: Alexei Zakharov (HSE), Konstantin Sonin (HSE, The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy)