Privatizing Russia

1997-01-22 Business & Economics

Author : Maxim Boycko
Release : 1997-01-22
Genre : Business & Economics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 281/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Privatizing Russia by : Maxim Boycko

Download or read book Privatizing Russia written by Maxim Boycko. This book was released on 1997-01-22. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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

2018-10-18 Political Science

Author : Joseph R. Blasi
Release : 2018-10-18
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 220/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Kremlin Capitalism by : Joseph R. Blasi

Download or read book Kremlin Capitalism written by Joseph R. Blasi. This book was released on 2018-10-18. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Privatization in Russia

2007-09 Political Science

Author : Dmitri Ouvarovskii
Release : 2007-09
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 56X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Privatization in Russia by : Dmitri Ouvarovskii

Download or read book Privatization in Russia written by Dmitri Ouvarovskii. This book was released on 2007-09. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Russia, grade: A, York University, 13 entries in the bibliography, 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

The Piratization of Russia

2003-04-10 Business & Economics

Author : Marshall I. Goldman
Release : 2003-04-10
Genre : Business & Economics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 847/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Piratization of Russia by : Marshall I. Goldman

Download or read book The Piratization of Russia written by Marshall I. Goldman. This book was released on 2003-04-10. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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

2013-06-19 Business & Economics

Author : Carol Scott Leonard
Release : 2013-06-19
Genre : Business & Economics
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 66X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Privatization and Transition in Russia in the Early 1990s by : Carol Scott Leonard

Download or read book Privatization and Transition in Russia in the Early 1990s written by Carol Scott Leonard. This book was released on 2013-06-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

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