American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Factory Productivity and the Concession System of Incorporation in Late Imperial Russia, 1894–1908
American Economic Review
vol. 110,
no. 2, February 2020
(pp. 401–27)
Abstract
In Imperial Russia, incorporation required an expensive special concession, yet over 4,000 Russian firms incorporated before 1914. I identify the characteristics of incorporating firms and measure the productivity gains and growth in machine power enjoyed by corporations using newly-constructed factory-level panel data compiled from Russian factory censuses. Factories owned by corporations were larger, more productive, and more mechanized than unincorporated factories. Higher productivity factories were more likely to incorporate and, after incorporating, added machine power and became even more labor productive. Russian firms sought the corporate form's full set of advantages, not just stock markets access, to obtain scarce long-term financing.Citation
Gregg, Amanda G. 2020. "Factory Productivity and the Concession System of Incorporation in Late Imperial Russia, 1894–1908." American Economic Review 110 (2): 401–27. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20151656Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D24 Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
- G31 Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies; Capacity
- G32 Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
- L60 Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General
- N43 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Europe: Pre-1913
- N63 Economic History: Manufacturing and Construction: Europe: Pre-1913