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This study investigates the relationship between property ownership and firm performance in transition economies. The adoption of market-oriented institutions across transition economies after the collapse of the Berlin Wall was not uniform. Our empirical work confirms substantial differences in the propensity of property ownership and firm performance across transitional economies because of institutional heterogeneities. We identify two types of post-communist economies: the countries with solid market-based institutions (Eastern European economies) that were able to reap the benefits of property ownership leading to increased profitability and productivity and the nations with weak institutions (Commonwealth of Independent States) where the principal association of interest is not consistent with conceptual predictions. Our empirical analysis shows that institutional differences, specifically a higher risk of capital expropriation, may force firms in the CIS to avoid capital ownership, limiting firms' ability to exploit the positive benefits of capital ownership on firm profitability and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]