This paper aims to investigate into the endogenous formation of corporate boards and its determinants under economic transition to a market system basing on a unique dataset of Russian joint-stock companies. Our empirical evidences strongly suggest that the theories and empirical methods of financial and organizational economics help accurately pinpoint the determinants of board size, proportion of outsider directors, and outsideness of chairman appointment of Russian firms. We also found that their board structure can be reasonably explained by the bargaining model developed by Hermalin and Weisbach (1998).
