Russia – A Long View - Hardcover

Gaidar, Yegor; Bouis, Antonina W.; Aslund, Anders

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262017415 ISBN 13: 9780262017411

Publisher: MIT Press, 2012

Synopsis

An important Russian economist and politician takes a long view of economic history and Russia's development. It is not so easy to take the long view of socioeconomic history when you are participating in a revolution. For that reason, Russian economist Yegor Gaidar put aside an early version of this work to take up a series of government positions-as Minister of Finance and as Boris Yeltsin's acting Prime Minister-in the early 1990s. In government, Gaidar shepherded Russia through its transition to a market economy after years of socialism. Once out of government, Gaidar turned again to his consideration of Russia's economic history and long-term economic and political challenges. This book, revised and updated shortly before his death in 2009, is the result. Gaidar's account of long-term socioeconomic trends puts his country in historical context and outlines problems faced by Russia (and other developing economies) that more developed countries have already encountered: aging population, migration, evolution of the system of social protection, changes in the armed forces, and balancing stability and flexibility in democratic institutions. This is not a memoir, but, Gaidar points out, neither is it "written from the position of a man who spent his entire life in a research institute." Gaidar's "long view" is inevitably informed and enriched by his experience in government at a watershed moment in history.

About this title

Review

The causes of modern economic growth are one great mystery, the sources of Russia's plight another. Only someone with the intellectual ambition of Yegor Gaidar would try to penetrate both mysteries in a single volume.

--Edward Lucas, TheWall Street Journal

The analysis is remarkably sharp and succinct, devoid of self-exculpation, and informed by an astonishing array of Russian and Western sources. Readers with little knowledge of Russia will be stimulated by the book's ambitious scope, and students of Russian history will be treated to a fresh perspective on critical issues, including an arresting explanation of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

--Foreign Affairs

About the Author

Yegor Gaidar (1956-2009) was a Russian economist and politician and a key architect of economic reforms in Russia's transition to a market economy.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0262017415
• ISBN 13: 9780262017411
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 600