Oligarchs and social capital in Russian regions: a quantitative assessment
in: Martin Kahanec, Mikuláš Luptácik, Philipp Schmidt-Dengler, Economic Policy in a Dynamic Environment. Selected Papers of the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting of the Slovak Economic Association
and the Austrian Economic Association
After the collapse of the Soviet Union a new class of entrepreneurs, the so called "oligarchs", have emerged in Russia. Using
individual survey data for Russia in combination with unique regional data on oligarchic dominance, we try to illuminate the
relationship of oligarchs and levels of social capital in Russian regions. We further examine the interplay of oligarchs and
public governance. The analysis reveals that social capital in terms of informal network strength and trust is significantly
higher in regions with stronger oligarchic dominance. While the quality of all levels of public governance is perceived to
be worse in oligarchic regions, this effect is especially pronounced for the local government.
JEL-Codes:Z13 L22 P36
Keywords:Russia Oligarchs, Social capital, Trust, Network density, Institutions
Forschungsbereich:Arbeitsmarktökonomie, Einkommen und soziale Sicherheit