Why Ownership Matters?: Politicization and Entrepreneurship in the Restructuring of Enterprises in Central Europe

This paper, base on a study of mid-sized firms in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, examines the sources of performance differences between state and privatized firms, particularly those that may be due to politicization and differences in the degree of entreprenurship. The paper presents empirical evidence that politicization of decision making is responsible for the observed inefficiencies in the cost behavior of state enterprises, but does not explain their inferior revenue performance, which is independent of the degree of state involvement.