Income Inequality and Oligarchs in Russian Regions: A Note

Jarko Fidrmuc and Lidwina Gundacker

No 6449, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We trace the rise of the so called oligarchs in post-Soviet Russia and examine their relationship to income distribution in Russia. When Russia moved to a market economy in the 1990s a new business elite evolved. Russia’s distinctive path towards market economy, among other factors, gave rise to the oligarchs who now control large parts of the economy and have a strong standing within politics and society. Using a unique regional data set on the locations of oligarchs’ businesses across the Russian regions, we test Acemoglu’s (2008) proposition that oligarchic societies experience extreme income inequality. Our results show significantly higher levels of income inequality in regions with a higher presence of oligarchs.

Keywords: Russia; oligarchs; entrepreneurship; privatization; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D43 L22 P25 P31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Journal Article: Income inequality and oligarchs in Russian regions: A note (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6449

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