The Covid-19 pandemic and technical efficiency of Russian firms : a stochastic frontier production function approach

Purpose: This paper aims to undertake the efficiency analysis in the form of stochastic frontier to estimate a Cobb–Douglas production function by controlling for the heterogeneity across Russian firms by including firm size, ownership, age, innovation activity and market competition. Design/methodology/approach: During the peak period of Covid-19, certain firms witnessed either a decrease or increase in sales. Using this segregation of firms from World Bank’s Covid-19 impact surveys follow-up to the Enterprise Survey for Russia, this study empirically investigates the determinants of technical efficiency of these firms focusing on the role of government assistance. Findings: The findings suggest that by segregating firms in terms of sales, different internal factors can enable in steering through pandemic situation besides just depending on external assistance. Originality/value: One of the few papers to analyse the impact of the pandemic on Russian firms by considering World Bank Covid Survey.