Description
As Russia aggressively tries to regain the status of a Great Power', whether it has the economic capacity to do so has become a matter of enormous topical importance, not just for those with a long-standing professional interest in the Russian economy, but also for a wider range of economists, political scientists, and foreign-policy specialists who need to understand the workings of this majorif somewhat unusualstate. Moreover, to determine if Russia can meet and sustain its apparent ambitions requires a knowledge not just of its current economic circumstances, but also of its economic past. What, if any, is the legacy of the Soviet period? How did Russia approach the transition from central planning to a market-type economy (a question which is relevant not just to our understanding of Russia itself, but also of transitional, emerging, and developing countries more generally)? And, leaving aside its Great Power ambitions, does the contemporary Russian economy possess the resources
