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BPEA | 1994: Microeconomics

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

Microeconomics 1994


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.