The Logic of Economic Reform in Russia

by Jerry F. Hough

"For Russia, the 1990s were characterized by social, political, and economic upheaval. Despite declarations that it would become a fully functional market economy virtually overnight, the former superpower languished in the depths of economic depression, its coffers routinely raided by plutocrats who pulled the strings of government. After it became apparent that the rosy predictions of some of the world's most respected economists were faulty, recriminations began among the governments of the Western nations, many of whom had sunk considerable assets into Russia's "transformation." The search was on for the culprit (or culprits) who had "lost" Russia.". "Russia's free-market reforms have not been undermined by any single person or feature, contends Jerry Hough in this thought-provoking book. Hough argues that a combination of factors - including Boris Yeltsin's political reach into the institutions of the financial world and mistaken assumptions about the nature of free-market economi