Russia's Post-Stabilisation Economic Decline, Its Crash and Finally Its Revival. Don't Just Blame the Corruption. It's the Exchange Rate, Stupid

Russia's Post-Stabilisation Economic Decline, Its Crash and Finally Its Revival. Don't Just Blame the Corruption. It's the Exchange Rate, Stupid PDF Author: Rudiger Ahrend
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Coverage of Russia in western newspapers leaves an overriding impression that the place is corrupt and doomed. Economists and pundits have focused on corruption, and the lack of the rule of law as the main causes of last year's crash. These structural problems definitely exist and they are indeed serious. But they also existed and were serious when the stock market was booming in 1996-1997 on the perceived success of Russian reforms. In fact, focus on these two problems neither explains the crash nor the real news of recent months - that production in Russia is steadily growing for the first time in a decade. The reason for this turnaround is the collapse of the rouble, which freed industry from the uncompetitiveness of the former exchange rate. The August 17 debacle is turning out to be salvation of Russian industry. The depression of Russia's heartland in 1995-1998 was largely caused by the very success of stabilisation. To bring down rampant inflation the exchange rate was pegged. As a result inflation was swiftly reduced in 1996 and consumption and financial booms in 1997 triggered a small growth blip, but industry sank further into its depressive mire. While stock markets went from high to high the real economy was suffering from Russia's version of the Dutch Disease. The commodity-based export sector prospered, largely freed from the subsidisation role of Soviet times, but Russian manufacturing went from bad to worse. Companies made more losses and in order to survive they failed to pay tax, wage and supplier bills, and turned to barter. While corruption, tax avoidance and plain stealing by management were - and are - pervasive, they alone do not suffice to explain the growth of these virtual phenomena during the stabilisation period. Post-crash, things are different. Federal tax revenues are up which has allowed the government to start paying off some of its outstanding arrears. In the private sector profits, cash-flow, and order book levels are up, while barter and wage arrears are down. With a competitive exchange rate the Russian economy is reviving for the first time in decades. Russia's transformation into a market economy, however flawed, is bearing some fruit. Provided there is no fast real appreciation and no major political upheaval, there is nothing to suggest that the Russian economy will not keep on growing. But although denouncing corruption might help to foster positive change, blaming it for the crash (and for the West's loss of Russia) provides precious little insight. Straight exchange rate economics goes much further in explaining why Russia continued to decline after stabilising in 1995, and why it is growing now.

Russia's Oil and Natural Gas

Russia's Oil and Natural Gas PDF Author: Michael Ellman
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 9781843317555
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
Explores the role of Russian oil and gas in the Russian economy.

Return to Growth in CIS Countries

Return to Growth in CIS Countries PDF Author: Lúcio Vinhas de Souza
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540342648
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to analyse specific sets of macro and structural policies in selected Eastern European countries. The book includes studies on the major Western CIS countries, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, plus a set of cross-country and regional studies. The analysis in this book contributes importantly to the discussion about the economic prospects of the CIS countries.

OECD Economic Surveys: Russian Federation 2004

OECD Economic Surveys: Russian Federation 2004 PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264016368
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
In this comprehensive 2004 overview of the Russian economy, OECD carefully analyses this heavily resources-dependent economy and its vulnerabilities. It recommends a comprehensive program of fiscal prudence and structural reform, particularly ...

Ten Crises

Ten Crises PDF Author: Peter Montiel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134601042
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
Financial crises are dramatic events. When they emerge, they tend to dominate the attention of the press and become the focus of policymakers. In one form or another, they have affected the lives of millions of people throughout the world. As references to 16th century Dutch tulips, 18th South Seas merchant ventures, or 1920s Florida real estate make clear, they have been around for a long time. At their worst, such as in the cases of the Great Depression or the current Great Recession, their effects have been felt worldwide, with the number of people affected counted into the billions. They have at times changed the course of history. This book analyses ten of the most important financial crises of the last thirty years. The specific crises covered in the book are the 1982 Chilean crisis, the 1992 ERM crisis, the 1994 Mexican crisis, the 1997 Asian crisis, the 1998 Russian crisis, the 1999 Brazilian crisis, the 1999 Ecuadorian crisis, the 2000 Turkish crisis, the 2002 Argentine crisis, and the 2008 crisis in Iceland. The set includes the most important emerging-market crises of the last three decades as well as two particularly informative advanced-country crises, the ERM crisis of 1992 and the Icelandic crisis of 2008. A separate chapter is devoted to each crisis, and a brief concluding chapter sums up some of the key lessons that I believe that we can draw from these events.

OECD Economic Surveys

OECD Economic Surveys PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Russia (Federation)
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Russia's Road to Corruption

Russia's Road to Corruption PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Speaker's Advisory Group on Russia
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Russia (Federation)
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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The Death of Expertise

The Death of Expertise PDF Author: Tom Nichols
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197763839
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
"In the early 1990s, a small group of "AIDS denialists," including a University of California professor named Peter Duesberg, argued against virtually the entire medical establishment's consensus that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was the cause of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Science thrives on such counterintuitive challenges, but there was no evidence for Duesberg's beliefs, which turned out to be baseless. Once researchers found HIV, doctors and public health officials were able to save countless lives through measures aimed at preventing its transmission"--

The Globalization Paradox

The Globalization Paradox PDF Author: Dani Rodrik
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191634255
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
For a century, economists have driven forward the cause of globalization in financial institutions, labour markets, and trade. Yet there have been consistent warning signs that a global economy and free trade might not always be advantageous. Where are the pressure points? What could be done about them? Dani Rodrik examines the back-story from its seventeenth-century origins through the milestones of the gold standard, the Bretton Woods Agreement, and the Washington Consensus, to the present day. Although economic globalization has enabled unprecedented levels of prosperity in advanced countries and has been a boon to hundreds of millions of poor workers in China and elsewhere in Asia, it is a concept that rests on shaky pillars, he contends. Its long-term sustainability is not a given. The heart of Rodrik’s argument is a fundamental 'trilemma': that we cannot simultaneously pursue democracy, national self-determination, and economic globalization. Give too much power to governments, and you have protectionism. Give markets too much freedom, and you have an unstable world economy with little social and political support from those it is supposed to help. Rodrik argues for smart globalization, not maximum globalization.

Years of adventure, 1874-1920

Years of adventure, 1874-1920 PDF Author: Herbert Hoover
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Presidents
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description