Nichtmonetäre Transaktionen in der ukrainischen Landwirtschaft: Determinanten, Spezifika und Folgen.

The prevalence of non-monetary transactions (NMT) in the Ukrainian economyis a phenomenon attributable to its transition to a market system. Major types ofNMT are barter transactions, offsets and payment in kind. Non-monetary transactionsare widespread in agriculture.The aim of this research is to analyze the determinants, the nature and theeconomic effects of non-monetary transactions in Ukrainian agriculture. Basedon actual conditions, the aim is to derive appropriate political and individualrecommendations for leading the enterprises toward monetary transactions.For these purposes a theoretical framework is developed and the history of thephenomenon “barter”, as well as the institutional environment, are analyzed.Then follows a survey of 50 managers of agricultural enterprises in OblastKherson and an econometric analysis using panel data from these enterprises.The survey results and econometric estimations show that the main reason fornon-monetary transactions is the liquidity problem of agricultural enterprises.Under the terms of soft budget constraints, the non-monetary transactions renderpossible the existence of illiquid enterprises in the market. In addition, theresults show that the volume of NMT is decreasing due to liquidity improvementand a general improvement in the economic situation of agricultural enterprises.Based on the theory of money and transaction costs theory, monetary deals aremore efficient than NMT, because of lower transaction costs due to the fact thatmoney as a common medium of exchange reduces the problem of exchangepartner search and mediates possible failures of the double coincidence of wants.This hypothesis is tested by econometric estimations using a panel data set of 50agricultural enterprises in Oblast Kherson and is not rejected.The creation of a reliable institutional framework, the development of creditsystems and the policy of hard budget constraints are important requirements forleading the enterprises toward monetary transactions. Agricultural producershave to realise that an improvement of profitability is only possible by usingmoney as the medium of exchange in all transactions.