Privatizing Russia

Privatizing Russia PDF Author: Maxim Boycko
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262522281
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Privatizing Russia offers an inside look at one of the most remarkable reforms in recent history. Having started on the back burner of Russian politics in the fall of 1991, mass privatization was completed on July 1, 1994, with two thirds of the Russian industry privately owned, a rapidly rising stock market, and 40 million Russians owning company shares. The authors, all key participants in the reform effort, describe the events and the ideas driving privatization. They argue that successful reformers must recognize privatization as a process of depoliticizing firms in the face of massive opposition: making the firm responsive to market rather than political influences. The authors first review the economic theory of property rights, identifying the political influence on firms as the fundamental failure of property rights under socialism. They detail the process of coalition building and compromise that ultmately shaped privatization. The main elements of the Russian program -- corporatization, voucher use, and voucher auctions -- are described, as is the responsiveness of privatized firms to outside investors. Finally, the market values of privatized assets are assessed for indications of how much progress the country has made toward reforming its economy. In many respects, privatization has been a great success. Market concepts of property ownership and corporate management are shaking up Russian firms at a breathtaking pace, creating powerful economic and political stimuli for continuation of market reforms. At the same time, the authors caution, the political landscape remains treacherous as old-line politicians reluctantly cede their property rights and authority over firms.

Privatizing Russia

Privatizing Russia PDF Author: Maxim Boycko
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262522281
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book

Book Description
Privatizing Russia offers an inside look at one of the most remarkable reforms in recent history. Having started on the back burner of Russian politics in the fall of 1991, mass privatization was completed on July 1, 1994, with two thirds of the Russian industry privately owned, a rapidly rising stock market, and 40 million Russians owning company shares. The authors, all key participants in the reform effort, describe the events and the ideas driving privatization. They argue that successful reformers must recognize privatization as a process of depoliticizing firms in the face of massive opposition: making the firm responsive to market rather than political influences. The authors first review the economic theory of property rights, identifying the political influence on firms as the fundamental failure of property rights under socialism. They detail the process of coalition building and compromise that ultmately shaped privatization. The main elements of the Russian program -- corporatization, voucher use, and voucher auctions -- are described, as is the responsiveness of privatized firms to outside investors. Finally, the market values of privatized assets are assessed for indications of how much progress the country has made toward reforming its economy. In many respects, privatization has been a great success. Market concepts of property ownership and corporate management are shaking up Russian firms at a breathtaking pace, creating powerful economic and political stimuli for continuation of market reforms. At the same time, the authors caution, the political landscape remains treacherous as old-line politicians reluctantly cede their property rights and authority over firms.

Kremlin Capitalism

Kremlin Capitalism PDF Author: Joseph R. Blasi
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801483967
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Kremlin Capitalism provides a wealth of data and analyses not previously available. The authors articulate the political and economic goals of Russian privatization, examine the current ownership of the largest enterprises in Russia, and chart the challenges of corporate governance and restructuring in Russia's new corporations.

The Piratization of Russia

The Piratization of Russia PDF Author: Marshall I. Goldman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134376847
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
In 1991, a small group of Russians emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union and enjoyed one of the greatest transfers of wealth ever seen, claiming ownership of some of the most valuable petroleum, natural gas and metal deposits in the world. By 1997, five of those individuals were on Forbes Magazine's list of the world's richest billionaires.

Privatization and Transition in Russia in the Early 1990s

Privatization and Transition in Russia in the Early 1990s PDF Author: Carol Scott Leonard
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113502166X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Few economic events have caused such controversy as the privatization process in Russia. Some see it as the foundation of political and economic freedom. For others it was economics gone wrong, and ended in "Russians stealing money from their own country". As Russia reasserts itself, and its new brand of capitalism, it is ever more important that policy makers and scholars understand the roots of the economic structure and governance of that country; what was decided, who made the decisions and why, what actually transpired, and what implications this has for the future of Russia. This work, written by two senior advisors to the Russian government, has unique access to documentation, tracking the decision making process in the Russian Mass Privatization process. By close reference to events, and supplemented by interviews with many of the key participants, it shows that the policies adopted were often influenced and shaped by different forces than those cited by current popular accounts. The book challenges the interpretation of Russian privatization by some of the West’s most eminent economists. It underlines that economists of all schools, who bring assumptions from the West to the analysis of Russia, may reach false or misleading conclusions. It is an essential guide for anyone interested in Russian economic reform, and anyone who seeks to understand this enigmatic country, and its actions today.

Privatization in Russia

Privatization in Russia PDF Author: Dmitri Ouvarovskii
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638770524
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - Region: Russia, grade: A, York University, language: English, abstract: Fragmentation of state authority, lack of a clear legislative base, unreliability of the legal system, collapse of the industry, bisection of the GDP, runaway inflation, capital flight, rises in crime and corruption, tremendous decline in life expectancy: the political, economic and social results of Russia’s transition from plan to market under Yeltsin are devastating. Within a few years the “mighty” Soviet Union fell back from a major power to a third world economy, dealing with problems like mass poverty and epidemics. In light of these disastrous outcomes the question of what “went right” during the transition process seems to be even more appropriate then the question of what “went wrong”. However, while it seems to be obvious that the stabilization and liberalization attempts by the Russian government predominantly failed, privatization, the third core facet of transition1 , “has been touted as a one of the major successes of the Russian government’s economic transformation policy. By the beginning of 1996 77.2% of medium-size and large enterprises had been privatised, accounting for 88.3% of total industrial output.”2 On the one hand, according to the Russian government’s Western advisers this privatization is the fastest in human history and “seems to be one of the few positive fruit of Russian economic policy since 1991”3. On the other hand, a common point of view is that its implementation led to an unfair distribution of state assets and only benefited a minority of Russian population. This debate is going to be the main focus of this paper. By discussing the general importance of the private sector to a democracy, the aims of privatization, its subsequent reforms, and its results, I intend to assess the contribution of these reforms to the process of Russian democratization.

A New Capitalist Order

A New Capitalist Order PDF Author: Hilary Appel
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 0822972662
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, more than a dozen countries undertook aggressive privatization programs. Proponents of economic reform championed such large-scale efforts as the fastest, most reliable way to make the transition from a state-run to a capitalist economy.The idea was widely embraced, and in the span of a few years, policymakers across the region repeatedly chose an approach that distributed vast amounts of state property to the private sector essentially for free-despite the absence of any historical precedent for such a radical concept. But privatization was not a panacea. It has, instead, become increasingly synonymous with collusion, corruption, and material deprivation.Why was privatization so popular in the first place, and what went wrong? In answering this question, Hillary Appel breaks with mainstream empirical studies of postcommunist privatization.By analyzing the design and development of programs in Russia, the Czech Republic, and across eastern Europe, Appel demonstrates how the transformation of property rights in these countries was first and foremost an ideologically driven process. Looking beyond simple economic calculations or pressure from the international community, she argues that privatization was part and parcel of the foundation of the postcommunist state.A New Capitalist Order reveals that privatization was designed and implemented by pro-market reformers not only to distribute gains and losses to powerful supporters, but also to advance a decidedly Western, liberal vision of the new postcommunist state. Moreover, specific ideologies-such as anticommunism, liberalism, or nationalism, to name but a few-profoundly influenced the legitimacy, the power, and even the material preferences of key economic actors and groups within the privatization process.

Kremlin Capitalism

Kremlin Capitalism PDF Author: Joseph R. Blasi
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501722220
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The first book to describe Russia's massive economic transformation for an American audience, Kremlin Capitalism provides a wealth of data and analyses not previously available in this country. The authors articulate the political and economic goals of Russian privatization, examine the current ownership of the largest enterprises in Russia, and chart the serious problem of corporate governance in the new private businesses. Kremlin Capitalism is based on the only continuous study of Russian privatization throughout the Russian Federation from 1992 to the present. The authors tracked down the story of the transition in the cities, towns, and villages of fifty of Russia's eighty-nine provinces, updating their findings after the June 1996 election. The result is an up-to-the-minute report of the largest property transfer in history and an analysis of one of this century's most significant economic transformations. The volume also characterizes the position of workers in terms of unemployment, wages, union power, and their changing role as employee shareholders.What really happened when Russia privatized its economy? The Kremlin brokered the initial struggle among different interest groups eager to claim a portion of Russian property: workers, managers, the Mafia, the old Soviet bureaucracy, regular citizens, entrepreneurs, Russian banks, and foreigners. While competing with one another, all struggled to free themselves from seventy years of Communist economic culture. Four years after the process began, have large companies learned to offer goods and services profitably and pay dividends to shareholders? Individual stories come alive as the book explores problems Russians face in structuring a new economic system, defining the ownership and governance of thousands of corporations one by one. Russian economic practices are being forged in the heat of fierce political struggles between resurgent Communists and nationalists and old Soviet managers, on the one hand, and more liberal elements of its infant democratic system on the other. Whether a few big conglomerates and the powerful banks and holding companies from Soviet days will dominate the new Russian economy to the exclusion of most citizens remains to be seen.Many questions persist. How will billions of dollars of capital be raised to retool, restructure, and reorient the heart and soul of Russia's economy? Will open stock markets stimulate a new economic order or will that new order be imposed through strong state supports and subsidies? What role will be played by shadowy conglomerates that are trying to shape a disorganized economy into something resembling the old Soviet system? The authors note the paradox of a capitalism conceived, designed, implemented, and evaluated by the Kremlin when one aim of reform is to allow market forces to play freely. Kremlin Capitalism asks whether rapid privatization has catalyzed or complicated the transition to a more liberal political and economic system, a question that will reverberate for decades.

Sale of the Century

Sale of the Century PDF Author: Chrystia Freeland
Publisher: Crown
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
In the 1990s, all eyes turned to the momentous changes in Russia, as the world's largest country was transformed into the world's newest democracy. But the heroic images of Boris Yeltsin atop a tank in front of Moscow's White House soon turned to grim new realities: a currency in freefall and a war in Chechnya; on the street, flashy new money and a vicious Russian mafia contrasted with doctors and teachers not receiving salaries for months at a time. If this was what capitalism brought, many Russians wondered if they weren't better off under the communists. This new society did not just appear ready-made: it was created by a handful of powerful men who came to be known as the oligarchs and the young reformers. The oligarchs were fast-talking businessmen who laid claim to Russia's vast natural resources. The young reformers were an elite group of egghead economists who got to put their wild theories into action, with results that were sometimes inspiring, sometimes devastating. With unparalleled access and acute insight, Chrystia Freeland takes us behind the scenes and shows us how these two groups misused a historic opportunity to build a new Russia. Their achievements were considerable, but their mistakes will deform Russian society for generations to come. Along with a gripping account of the incredible events in Russia's corridors of power, Freeland gives us a vivid sense of the buzz and hustle of the new Russia, and inside stories of the businesses that have beaten the odds and become successful and profitable. She also exposes the conflicts and compromises that developed when red directors of old Soviet firms and factories yielded to -- or fought -- the radically new ways of doing business. She delves into the loophole economy, where anyone who knows how to manipulate the new rules can make a fast buck. Sale of the Century is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall economic thriller -- an astonishing and essential account of who really controls Russia's new frontier.

Privatization, Conversion, And Enterprise Reform In Russia

Privatization, Conversion, And Enterprise Reform In Russia PDF Author: Michael Mcfaul
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000308189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
This volume provides an evaluation of initial efforts to convert post-Soviet Russian industry from that of a highly-centralized, military-oriented economy to that of a civilian economy with a stronger base in private enterprise. The authors address crucial issues of the embattled economic transformation at the level of particular enterprises and geographic regions as well as in the contexts of state policy, finance and planning. Their analyses offer readers an understanding of the various obstacles that impede post-Soviet economic restructuring and point to ways in which they may be overcome.

The Selling of the Soviet Empire

The Selling of the Soviet Empire PDF Author: Alfred Kokh
Publisher: SP Books
ISBN: 9781561719846
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Never before has there been an attempt to transform a massive state-owned economy into a dynamic free market system. The story of the conversion of the dinosaur Marxist Soviet state into the free-wheeling capitalist society of today's Russian Federation is one of the most compelling dramas in history. This tale includes violence, corruption, and a web of political conspiracy. It is a true-life economic-political thriller. Who are the new Russian financial magnates who are grabbing former state property? What were the terms for disposing of the state's immense wealth to private investors? What was the role of American financiers? These questions, and more, are answered here. In addition to what he saw with his own eyes (in the crucial period between 1992 and 1997), Kokh also paints vivid pictures of the influential decision-makers that he worked closely with, including Anatoly Chubais, the little known Kremlin kingpin who ran Boris Yeltsin's re-election campaign and served as both Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Kokh uses his expert knowledge of the Russian government to bring readers into the momentous meetings that changed the world, including his cogent analysis of events occurring in Russia at the present time.