 Dinissa Duvanova, Bureaucratic Corruption and Collective Action: Business Associations in the Postcommunist Transition Corruption is a notorious companion of the postcommunist economic transition, and it has had an adverse effect on business. Does corruption also inhibit collective action among postcommunist firms? Based on an analysis of survey data on membership in business associations in twenty-five postcommunist countries, and controlling for other factors affecting group membership, firms' perception of bureaucratic corruption is positively associated with membership. This finding is quite surprising, given the conventional understanding of business-state relations. Causal mechanisms linking bureaucratic corruption to association formation can be traced through the development of two business associations. Business associations attract their members by providing effective mechanisms to confront bureaucratic corruption. |