Competition Policy in Russia during and after Privatization

Richard Schmalensee,

RS

Richard Schmalensee Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Natalia Tsukanova, and

NT

Natalia Tsukanova Russian Privatization Center

Paul L. Joskow

PLJ

Paul L. Joskow

Discussants: Andrei Shleifer

AS

Andrei Shleifer

IN SCALE, SCOPE, AND INTELLECTUAL INTEREST, the transformation of the command economies of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and many of its erstwhile allies is an extraordinary event. This essay is concerned with an important aspect of this historic process: the attempt to create a competitive market economy in Russia. Russia is still of considerable strategic importance, and it has the potential to be economically important as well. The Russian federation represented roughly 60-70 percent of the industrial production of the FSU, and it inherited impressive stocks of natural resources and human capital when the Soviet Union was dissolved in December 1991.