Ownership, voting, and job creation in Russia

Job creation has had important economic and political consequences for countries in transition. Evidence from a survey of 500 firms in Russia finds that new private firms are more likely to increase employment, while worker-owned and worker-managed firms are less likely to create jobs. In addition, firm managers who expand employment appear to be a constituency for market-oriented parties. Managers whose firms added workers were significantly more likely to vote for market-oriented parties in parliamentary elections in Russia in 1999. This result suggests a micro-level link between enterprise restructuring and support for liberal parties at the ballot box.