Description
Book SynopsisThis text delivers an unpopular message: the West has played a pivotal role in the Russian economic disaster of the 1990s. Western advisors, including the International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury, applied a narrow conception of economics that pushed Russia toward another failed utopia.
Trade Review"No writing or oratory in history has been more replete with bad advice than that given Russia in the last decade. Here, for a change, is something very good—the best, in fact, that truly competent and responsible American and Russian scholars have to offer. I strongly recommend it."—John Kenneth Galbraith
"A searching critique of the strategy favored in the West . . . it contributes fresh perspectives on the much debated question concerning the 'big bang' versus 'gradualism' in communist economic transformation."—Abram Bergson, Harvard University
"This admirable work has contributions from an impressive group of specialists who cover the topic comprehensively. Balanced, reasonable transitions in various economic sectors are urged persuasively and in some cases even eloquently. The book has the potential for making a significant impact."—Ralph T. Fisher, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"[An] excellent, well-organized, and useful collection about economic reform in postcommunist Russia. . . . The strength of
The New Russia lies in the editors' thoughtful and thematic organization of the material, the consistency of argumentation applied to a panoply of economic issues, the depth and rigor of analysis throughout, and the prescription for recovery in the 'Reform Agenda' and 'Call for Action.'"—
Slavic ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction Part I. Perspective: 1. Economic transition: speed and scope 2. What do we economists know now about the transition to a market system? 3. The transition's initial years 4. Privatization and criminalization 5. Where is Russia now? 6. Economic efficiency and political pressures 7. A roundtable discussion Part II. Proposals: 8. Overall agenda for reform 9. Public wealth funds 10. Economic reintegration of the Commonwealth of Independent States 11. Import tariffs 12. Taxation of mineral wealth 13. Reform of the agricultural sector 14. Reform of the coal industry.
