IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eej/eeconj/v19y1993i3p365-378.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Russian Economic Reform: Is Economics Helpful?

Author

Listed:
  • Jim Leitzel

    (Duke University)

Abstract

This paper examines how issues ranging from inflation to monopolization in the former Soviet Union are occasionally misdiagnosed, leading to sub-optimal prescriptions for reform. The misdiagnosis occurs because the pre-reform state of the Russian economy is often taken at face value as a centrally-planned economy, Russian official statistics are accepted uncritically, and the actual effects of changes in the former Soviet Union are frequently taken to be equivalent to their measured effects. The theme that emerges when an attempt is made to apply basic economic principles to Russian economic reform is that problems that are often attributed to reform are already present in the current, partially-reformed Russian economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jim Leitzel, 1993. "Russian Economic Reform: Is Economics Helpful?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 365-378, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:19:y:1993:i:3:p:365-378
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume19/V19N3P365_378.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexeev, Michael, 1991. "If market clearing prices are so good then why doesn't (almost) anybody want them?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 380-390, June.
    2. Kent Osband, 1991. "Index Number Biases During Price Liberalization," IMF Working Papers 1991/076, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Laffont, Jean-Jacques & Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Using Cost Observation to Regulate Firms," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 614-641, June.
    4. Atkinson,Anthony Barnes & Micklewright,John, 1992. "Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe and the Distribution of Income," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521438827, January.
    5. Hewett, Ed A, 1989. "Economic Reform in the USSR, Eastern Europe, and China: The Politics of Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 16-20, May.
    6. Fischer, Stanley & Gelb, Alan, 1990. "Issues in socialist economy reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 565, The World Bank.
    7. Rudiger Dornbusch, 1992. "The Case for Trade Liberalization in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 69-85, Winter.
    8. Fernandez, Raquel & Rodrik, Dani, 1991. "Resistance to Reform: Status Quo Bias in the Presence of Individual-Specific Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1146-1155, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steven Samford, 2010. "Averting “Disruption and Reversal†: Reassessing the Logic of Rapid Trade Reform in Latin America," Politics & Society, , vol. 38(3), pages 373-407, September.
    2. Corrales, Javier & Cisneros, Imelda, 1999. "Corporatism, Trade Liberalization and Sectoral Responses: The Case of Venezuela, 1989-99," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2099-2122, December.
    3. Atkeson, Andrew & Kehoe, Patrick J, 1996. "Social Insurance and Transition," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(2), pages 377-401, May.
    4. Golinelli, Roberto & Rovelli, Riccardo, 2013. "Did growth and reforms increase citizens' support for the transition?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 112-137.
    5. Alexeev, Michael & Leitzel, James, 2001. "Income distribution and price controls: Targeting a social safety net during economic transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1647-1663, October.
    6. Omid Karami & Mina Mahmoudi, 2018. "Estimating Trade-Related Adjustment Costs in the Agricultural Sector in Iran," Papers 1806.04238, arXiv.org.
    7. Andrew Atkeson & Patrick J. Kehoe, 1995. "Optimal social insurance, incentives, and transition," Working Papers 546, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    8. Baccini, Leonardo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2012. "Strategic side payments: preferential trading agreements, economic reform, and foreign aid," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 45057, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Richard Mash, 1999. "The Investment Response to Imperfectly Credible Trade Liberalisation with Endogenous Probability of Reversal," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/1998-13, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. John S. Earle & Scott Gehlbach, 2003. "A Spoonful of Sugar: Privatization and Popular Support for Reform in the Czech Republic," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 1-32, March.
    11. Anders Gustafsson, 2019. "Busy doing nothing: why politicians implement inefficient policies," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 282-299, September.
    12. Francesco Caselli & Nicola Gennaioli, 2008. "Economics and Politics of Alternative Institutional Reforms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1197-1250.
    13. Dionne, G. & Doherty, N., 1991. "Adverse Selection In Insurance Markets: A Selective Survey," Cahiers de recherche 9105, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    14. Perez-Castrillo, David & Riedinger, Nicolas, 2004. "Auditing cost overrun claims," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 267-285, June.
    15. Surajeet Chakravarty & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2006. "Construction Contracts (or “How to Get the Right Building at the Right Price?”)," CESifo Working Paper Series 1714, CESifo.
    16. Randall S. Kroszner, 1999. "Is the Financial System Politically Independent? Perspectives on the Political Economy of Banking and Financial Regulation," CRSP working papers 492, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    17. Shrestha, Ratna K., 2017. "Menus of price-quantity contracts for inducing the truth in environmental regulation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-7.
    18. Stieglitz, Moritz & Setzer, Ralph, 2022. "Firm-level employment, labour market reforms, and bank distress," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    19. Gabriella Montinola & Ramon Moreno, 2001. "The political economy of foreign bank entry and its impact: theory and a case study," Pacific Basin Working Paper Series 2001-11, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    20. Imam, M. & Jamasb, T. & Llorca, M. & Llorca, M., 2018. "Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Electricity Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1801, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • P21 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Planning, Coordination, and Reform

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:19:y:1993:i:3:p:365-378. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eeaa1ea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.