What determines the scale of state ownership in enterprises? Some evidence from post-socialist countries

Abstract State-owned enterprises still play an important role in many countries around the world. The aim of this research is to indicate which factors had a significant impact on the scale of state ownership in enterprises in the group of twenty eight post-socialist countries. The large scale privatisation indicator from the EBRD and the novel microlevel-based SOE measure were regressed on sets of cultural, political, economic and control variables. The results show that cultural factors—represented by the dominant religion—had a substantial impact on the scale of state ownership in enterprises while the role of political and economic factors was less pronounced. These results emphasise the importance of cultural factors in shaping the scale of state ownership in enterprises. This study contributes to the literature by analysing factors influencing the scale of state ownership in enterprises in contemporary economic conditions which has been missing until now.