How Russia Became a Market Economy

Anders Aslund

doi:10.5771/9780815716198

Summary

The breakup of the Soviet Union and the attempted transformation of Russia into a democracy and a market economy constitute one of the most significant events of our time. A transformation could hardly be greater, yet judgments vary from failure to substantial achievement. This book clarifies that Russia has actually become a market economy.

Anders Aslund provides the most detailed and insightful assessment to date of the Russian transformation from a socialist economy to a market economy. His account covers the period from the formation of the Russian reform government in November 1991 through the autumn of 1994. He discusses the preconditions of economic reform, the formation of a reform program, relations with other former Soviet republics, liberalization, macroeconomic stabilization, and privatization. The final chapter evaluates the transformation.

As a longtime specialist on the Soviet economy and an economic adviser to the Russian government during most of this period, Aslund analyzes the original intentions of the government, what they were able to accomplish, and why they fell short.

The book's general conclusion is that the greater the speed, consistency, and determination, the more impressive the results. The main threat to the reform process was the resistance from the state enterprise managers, who wanted to enrich themselves at the expense of the state. The reformers could only win if they acted swiftly and firmly. According to Aslund, the Russian transformation has not been too quick, as many maintain, but rather too slow.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2011
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-0425-6
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1619-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 378
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
1. Purpose of This Book No access
2. What Becoming a Market Economy Means No access
3. What Should Be Done? No access
4. Why Soviet and Chinese Reforms Had to Differ No access
5. The Author's Personal Involvement as an Economic Advisor No access
6. Sources and Statistics No access
7. Structure of This Book No access
1. Gorbachev's Legacy: Institutional Breakdown No access
2. The Transformation of Economic Thinking No access
3. The Depth of the Economic Crisis in 1991 No access
4. Conclusions: The End of the Soviet System No access
1. Stages of the Economic Reform No access
2. A New Political Setting Takes Form No access
3. A Program of Radical Economic Reform No access
4. Formation of the Economic Reform Team No access
5. An Acrimonious Critique No access
6. Political and Institutional Impediments No access
7. The Political Undoing of Radical Reform No access
8. Conclusions No access
1. From the USSR to the CIS No access
2. Dilemmas Posed by the Collapse of the Soviet Union No access
3. Alternative Currency and Payments Arrangements No access
4. Alternative Strategies of Other Former Soviet Republics No access
5. Decay of the Ruble Zone No access
6. A Ruble Zone of a New Type No access
7. Conclusions: A Costly Failure No access
1. Domestic Liberalization No access
2. Liberalization of Foreign Trade No access
3. Antimonopoly Policy No access
4. Problems With the Deregulation of the Energy Sector No access
5. Agriculture: Intertwined Rent-Seeking Monopolies No access
6. Economic Crime as a Threat to Liberalization No access
7. Conclusion: Accomplishing Liberalization, However Slowly No access
1. Why Macroeconomic Stabilization Is So Important No access
2. Is Russia Unique? No access
3. How to Fight Inflation in Russia No access
4. Radical Reform: January–May 1992 No access
5. Backsliding: June–December 1992 No access
6. Stalemate: January–September 1993 No access
7. The Second Reform Wave: September–December 1993 No access
8. A Policy of Passivity: January–October 1994 No access
9. How to Deal With Interenterprise Arrears No access
10. The Role of the West No access
11. Conclusions: Money Is Money in Russia, Too No access
1. Private Enterprise at the End of the USSR No access
2. Early Russian Ideas on Privatization No access
3. The Russian Reformers' Ideas on Privatization No access
4. The Great Privatization Debate No access
5. A Radical Privatization Program No access
6. Skillful Administration No access
7. Ordinary Small-Scale Privatization No access
8. Large-Scale Mass Privatization No access
9. Undramatic Housing Privatization No access
10. Stalled Land Reform No access
11. Development of New Private Enterprises No access
12. Tardy Bankruptcy No access
13. Conclusions: A Successful Privatization No access
1. Economic Results No access
2. How Was the Window of Opportunity Used? No access
3. Why Did the Military-Industrial Complex Fail as a Lobby? No access
4. Lessons From the Russian Transformation No access
Abbreviations No access Pages 317 - 318
Chronology No access Pages 319 - 320
Cast of Characters No access Pages 321 - 326
Endnotes No access Pages 327 - 368
1. A No access
2. B No access
3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
8. H No access
9. I No access
10. J No access
11. K No access
12. L No access
13. M No access
14. N No access
15. O No access
16. P No access
17. Q No access
18. R No access
19. S No access
20. T No access
21. U No access
22. V No access
23. W No access
24. Z No access