On 16 December 2019 Crossroads Central Asia and the Economics Department of the American University of Central Asia hosted the presentation of the preliminary results of a study on “Firms, Kinship and Economic Growth in the Kyrgyz Republic”. The research was led by Drs. Paul Castañeda Dower and Theodore Gerber (University of Wisconsin – Madison), with Crossroads Central Asia involved in the implementation of fieldwork in Kyrgyzstan. The study, kindly supported by a grant from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), addressed the question of whether kinship networks help promote entrepreneurship or impede its development in Kyrgyzstan.
The seminar included remarks by Dr Shlomo Weber (President, New Economic School, Russia) and the research presentation by Drs. Paul Castañeda Dower and Theodore Gerber (University of Wisconsin – Madison). Discussants included Dr Nurgul Ukueva and Professor Zarylbek Kudabaev of AUCA, representatives of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic. Mr Shairbek Dzhuraev of Crossroads Central Asia facilitated the discussion.
As part of the research, 20 structured interviews with business owners (12 in Bishkek, 8 in Osh) were conducted in fall 2018. In spring 2019, the team implemented a survey of 1000 firm managers/entrepreneurs. The questions included the nature of their family and friendship networks, what kinds of business and non-business resources they receive from and provide to their various contacts, their firms’ history, size, profile, and performance, and the business environment they face. The survey response rate was 56.2%, with reasons for non-response distributed as follows: 574 refusals, 195 non-contacts during three attempts, three cases where a sampled business listed in the census could not be located, and 7 “other” reasons. Access to full results of the study will be provided once finalized.
(Photo courtesy of AUCA)