International sourcing and the productivity of SMEs in transition countries: Formal and informal ‘region effects’ and the communist footprint
研究了东欧转型国家中小企业从欧盟（正式联系）和前共产主义集团（非正式联系）地区采购投入品对生产率的影响，发现两者均提升生产率，但共产主义印记越长的企业从欧盟采购的收益越小。
We study how SMEs in transition countries can boost productivity by sourcing inputs from regions with which they share formal institutional links (the European Union) or informal links (the former communist bloc). Additionally, we discuss how the length of the communist footprint may modify these productivity gains. Using a sample of SMEs located in Eastern Europe, we find a positive relation between firm productivity and inputs from regions with formal and informal institutional links. We also find that this positive relation is weaker for firms with longer communist footprints that source inputs from EU countries.