Anders Åslund

• Fellow at Atlantic Council, United States

Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin. By William E. Pomeranz. Bloomsbury Academic: New York, 2019. x, 228 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $115.00, hard back. - Volume 78 Issue 4 - Anders Åslund

Kurzfassung Die Ukraine hat massive wirtschaftliche Verluste infolge der russischen Annexion der Krim im März 2014 und der militärischen Aggression gegen die östlichen Regionen Luhansk und Donetsk erleiden müssen. Während Russland auf der Krim einigermaßen funktionierende staatliche Strukturen eingeführt hat, ist die besetzte Donbass Region ein ges...

The Greek financial crisis that erupted in 2010 was possibly cured after 8 years in 2018. It has been extraordinary in its social cost and its cost to European taxpayers. The causes of this failure are multiple. The main burden lies with consecutive Greek governments that did not carry out the necessary fiscal adjustment and reforms. In their lack...

The dominant idea in the early post‐communist economic transition was that an early and comprehensive radical economic reform programme was needed. This program was accompanied by a clear programme of political economy reform, which included; a clear understanding that the old system was finished, a political breakthrough, new political leaders, ne...

During the boom years 2000–2007, the new Central and East European (CEE) members of the European Union (EU) had more than twice as high economic growth as the 15 countries that were members of the EU before 2004. From 2010, however, their growth rates have been mediocre though still higher than those of the older EU members. This paper investigates...

The 21 former Soviet-bloc countries fall into three classes of political systems representing a good equilibrium, a bad equilibrium, and a final group that teeters between the two. The nine Central and East European countries that have become EU members represent a good equilibrium: they retain democratic political systems and have corruption under...

Ukraine is one of a handful of post-communist countries that has a lower Gross Domestic Product today than in 1990, according to the World Bank. The problem is that it has seen too little reform. The country has experienced three serious periods of reform, but none has been as important as the reforms of 2015. The big question is whether Ukraine ha...

This Riga Conference companion volume offers reflections on the complex developments and future of the broader TransAtlantic area. It focuses on four key themes: security in the Euro-Atlantic community and beyond, Russia-West relations, European order and economic sustainability, and the neighbourhood countries and beyond.

Ukraine has an economy today that is not much larger than in 1990. The main explanation is that Ukraine had no economic policy in the first three years of its independence, 1991-1994. The Soviet economic system lingered, but the government allowed large fiscal deficits, which it financed with monetary emission, causing hyperinflation of 10,200% in...

This article attempts to offer a picture of the state of the economic reform in Ukraine in the summer of 2015, assessing what has been done. It offers a periodisation of Ukraine's economic policy since its independence in 1991, suggesting that Ukraine has seen three periods of significant reform and this is by far the most important. The main cause...

This paper discusses why Greece has done so poorly in comparison with all other European Union countries since the onslaught of the global financial crisis in 2008. To show what was wrong with its fiscal adjustment, this paper compares Greece with the other European Union country that was hit be the most severe fiscal crisis, namely Latvia. The con...

A country's rise to economic dominance tends to be accompanied by its currency becoming a reference point, with other currencies tracking it implicitly or explicitly. For a sample comprising emerging market economies, we show that in the last two years, the renminbi (RMB) has increasingly become a reference currency which we define as one which exh...

A key to understanding any society is its informal institutions, which influence both its economy and its politics. In Ukraine, the most important such institution is endemic corruption, which— aside from Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty—is the main threat to the nation. Under Viktor Yanukovych, this corrupt...

What a difference a quarter of a century can make! In 1989, Poland stood out as a country in chronic political and economic crisis.1 It had been ravaged by strikes, economic decline and default since 1976. A popular view both in Poland and abroad was that Poland was incurable. Germans talked about the polnische Wirtschaft (Polish economy), meaning...

A veteran Western observer and authority on Russia's political economy examines the recent debate on economic growth in Russia. Focusing on Sergey Glazyev, a prominent statist and nationalist favored by President Vladimir Putin, who reemerged at the top of the public debate, the author discusses the essence of his ideas (state capitalism, Eurasian...

The development of the institutional capacity to create and evaluate economic policies remains a critical need—and constraint—in most transition economies if they are to complete the successful passage to fully functioning market economies. To take an active role in the transition process, economic policymakers, business leaders, government officia...

Based substantially on extensive interviews in Moscow from 1984 to date and current literature as well, the paper traces the recent activities and environment of Secretary Gorbachev's intimate advisors on Soviet economy. Academicians Abel Aganbegyan, Oleg Bogomolov, Tat'yana Zaslavskaya, and Corresponding Member Leonid Abalkin, are singled out as l...

Five years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and a new political and economic system has evolved in Russia. Russia After Communism provides an overall assessment of what has been accomplished and what has failed to date, and where Russia is heading. In a unique collaborative effort, the book features chapters on major issues writt...

The response of the ten new eastern members of the European Union to the global financial crisis has valuable lessons of crisis resolution for the euro area. These countries were severely hit by the crisis in the fall of 2008 and responded with extensive reforms. Crisis made the unthinkable possible. This paper outlines the main reform measures tha...

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical observations from postcommunist countries to suggest which policy sets applied make most sense for the promotion of micro-enterprises. Three overall conclusions can be drawn. First, an early, comprehensive and radical reform is the superior approach for the promotion of entrepreneurship, because the...

Latvia stands out as the East European country hardest hit by the global financial crisis; it lost approximately 25 percent of its GDP between 2008 and 2010. It was also the most overheated economy before the crisis. But in the second half of 2010, Latvia returned to economic growth. How did this happen so quickly? Current Latvian Prime Minister Va...

One of the big questions of our time is whether the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) will survive. Too often, analysts discuss a possible departure of one or several countries from the euro area as little more than a devaluation, but Åslund argues that any country’s exit from the euro area would be a far greater event with potentially odious conse...

In the current financial crisis plaguing Europe, Latvia stands out for resolving its financial problems quickly and resolutely. After contracting 24 percent in 2008 and 2009, it grew at the rate of 5.5 percent in 2011. The speed and determination with which the government carried out austerity measures in 2009 and restored confidence after sufferin...

The collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 was multiple, but the demise of the very economic system was one important component that in itself rendered its implosion inevitable, and with the Soviet collapse the Cold War came to a definite end. The purpose of this article is twofold, to depict this amazingly fast demise of a petrified economi...

Both Boris Yeltsin and the United States failed to take full advantage of the window of opportunity between the August 1991 putsch and the collapse of the Soviet Union four months later. Bolder political action, greater economic reform, and more generous Western assistance might have precluded Russian resentment.

A prominent specialist on economic developments in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries examines the ways in which the global financial crisis of 2008-2010 has impacted the economies of the 10 new eastern member states of the European Union (CEE-10). The author assesses the multiple preconditions of the crisis (e...

In the coming year, Congress is likely to face a critical vote on granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to Russia in connection with its impending membership to the World Trade Organization (WTO). A “yes” on PNTR for Russia could set the tone for economic relations between the United States and Russia for the next decade, and would give...

The euro crisis has been extensively discussed in terms of economics, finance, political intrigues, and European institutions, but a key aspect—the political economy of the crisis—has received little attention. Politicians and social scientists from emerging economies, especially Eastern Europe, look with amazement at this oversight.

The potential benefits to the US economy from Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) are substantial but the United States can enjoy them only if it grants Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status—by repealing application to Russia of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which bars favorable trade relations with countries tha...

This is an action program for the first year of a new presidency. After the presidential elections, Ukraine will have a unique opportunity to implement reforms that will lay foundation for sustainable economic growth. The new presidential mandate, the shock of a recent severe economic crisis, and popular dissatisfaction with the status-quo create i...

The global economic crisis hit Ukraine hard in the middle of a boom. The country was cut of from global financial markets; the banking system came to a standstill; the stock market plummeted. Kiev had no other choice than to ask for assistance from the International Monetary Fund, which then put $16 billion at the country's disposal. Soon industria...

This book deals with the financial crisis in Eastern Europe that erupted in the fall of 2008 and abated in the spring of 2010. It concentrates on the ten new eastern members of the European Union. The causes of the crisis posed no mysteries. This was a typical credit-driven boom-and-bust cycle that led to excessive current account deficits. When gl...

The 2008–10 global financial crisis has shaken all, not least Russian per-ceptions of last decade's energy boom. Gazprom, Russia's natural gas monopoly, just over 50 percent of which belongs to the Russian state, is a national champion with enormous resources. But its business strategy faces serious challenges. Because of its size and importance fo...

Anders Åslund is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. He is a leading specialist on post-Communist economic transformation, with more than 30 years of experience in the field. He is the author of nine books, most recently, How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy (2009), Russia's Capital...

Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia. By Goldman Marshall I. . New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. xi, 230 pp. Notes. Glossary. Index. Figures. Tables. $27.95, hard bound. - Volume 68 Issue 3 - Anders Åslund

A prominent specialist in the economic affairs of the former Soviet Union relates and analyzes the state of Ukraine's economy in light of a series of discussions and interviews with the country's Prime Minister and leading economic officials in Kyiv in 2008 and April 2009. The author, a former economic advisor to the country's government and co-cha...

With high growth rates in Asia, most notably in China, India, and Southeast and Central Asia, Eurasia's economic center of gravity is rapidly shifting to the East. At the same time, most of Europe faces serious barriers to growth in the long term. The volume examines the causes and consequences of this major shift in economic power and considers th...

One of Europe's old nations steeped in history, Ukraine is today an undisputed independent state. It is a democracy and has transformed into a market economy with predominant private ownership. Ukraine's postcommunist transition has been one of the most protracted and socially costly, but it has taken the country to a desirable destination. * Aslun...

The global financial crisis offers all world leaders an opportunity to think big and reach out to international cooperation. President Barack Obama should seize this opportunity to dramatically turn around US-Russia relations by establishing a positive interaction with President Dmitri Medvedev based on an early formulation of a Russia policy. Aslu...

At its September summit in Pittsburgh, the Group of 20 leading economies in the world proclaimed themselves as the supreme global economic institution, replacing the increasingly flimsy and unrepresentative Group of Eight and outlining greater power for their new grouping. The dominant public reaction has been positive. After all, the G20 represent...

This paper discusses the global financial crisis of 2008/9 in thirteen countries, the ten new EU members that previously were communist and the three countries of Western former Soviet Union. Their problems were excessive current account deficits and private foreign debt, currency mismatches, and high inflation, while public finances were in good s...

An analysis pf Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy shows that he has a strong habit of doing the opposite of what he says. He has persistently advocated pure democracy, while actually building an authoritarian rule. Fortunately, this authoritarianism is more reminiscent of tsarism than Soviet dictatorship. Russia's impressive economic growth...

How Capitalism Was Built tells the story of how the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia became market economies from 1989 to 2006. It discusses preconditions, political breakthroughs, and alternative reform programs. Three major chapters deal with the deregulation of prices and trade, price stabilizati...

Where is Europe going? In this 2007 collection, several prominent European economists offer essays on the five big challenges to the development of the European Union (EU). Namely, the new European Constitution, European finances and the euro, the need to boost economic growth, competition in both new member states and countries further to the East...

Two prominent Western observers of the economic transition and development in Russia and China evaluate and supplement the preceding paper (Malle, 2008), which compares the two economies by tracing their evolution from central planning to market-oriented systems. While in general supporting and agreeing with the premise of the comparative analysis...

A prominent specialist on economic transition in the former Soviet Union presents an overview of Ukraine's economic dilemma in the aftermath of the most recent elections in that country. The author, a former economic advisor to Ukraine's government and co-chair of the UN's Blue Ribbon Commission for Ukraine, relates his insights into the causes of...

Collection of essays based on the outcome of CASE's 2005 international conference held in Warsaw. In this collection, several prominent economists discuss the five big challenges to the development of the European Union (EU). These are: the new European Constitution, European finances and the Euro, the need to boost economic growth, competition in...

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy presents a timely assessment of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. The author discusses the reasons that prompted Russia to seek membership and scrutinizes the major obstacles, such as complexities of the accession process and the country's institutional malaise. An analysis of the effe...

The Russian revolution, collapse of the Soviet Union, and Russia's ensuing transformation belong to the greatest dramas of our time. Revolutions are usually messy and emotional affairs, challenging much of the conventional wisdom, and Russia's experience is no exception. This book focuses on the transformation from Soviet Russia to Russia as a mark...

The spectacular, sustained economic growth experienced in several East Asian countries leads to the question what Europe can learn from the East Asian economic model. Three advantages of the East Asian model stand out: small social transfers, low taxation and free labor markets. The superiority of such policies is now widely accepted, and the quest...

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy provides a framing comment on two preceding papers entitled 'Russia's Energy Policy' (by Vladimir Milov, Leonard Coburn, and Igor Danchenko) and 'Russia's Energy Policy: A Divergent View' (by Matthew J. Sagers). The author argues that Russia's current energy policy should be viewed as an outcome of comp...

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...

In the first decade of postcommunist transition, multiple growth regressions showed that the more radical and comprehensive market economic reform was, the earlier a country returned to economic growth and the more vigorous its growth, and that Central Europe took the lead. Since 2000, however, the Commonweath of Independent States (CIS) countries...

A prominent specialist on the Russian economy discusses two preceding papers entitled "Resource Rents and the Russian Economy" by Clifford Gaddy and Barry Ickes and "Can Russia Break the ‘Resource Curse’?" by Rudiger Ahrend. Focusing on Russia's oil and gas sector, the author comments on the five components of resource rents, the ownership and effi...

Before the March 2005 revolution, the Kyrgyz Republic had undertaken substantial market reform, but the growth rate remained moderate and poverty palpable. The two main culprits were seen to be limited market access and corruption. Market access has improved considerably, and the corruption of the prior ruling family is seen as a major cause of the...