Perspective on the Performance of Russia's Transition

Author: Zhang Chi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: Transition has been a novel and noteworthy phenomenon since the late 20th century, and Russia, among transitioning countries, is particularly typical. In the late 1980s, Russia entered a period of turbulence and dramatic conflicts, where opportunities, hopes, and failures coexisted. Many phenomena that emerged during its transition process are puzzling, thought-provoking, and require theoretical explanation. This book applies the basic theories of institutional economics to examine Russia's trajectory over a decade from a historical perspective, evaluating its transition performance within a relatively standardized framework. Starting from an understanding of the essence of transition, it introduces the institutional environment into the analytical scope, constructing an "institutional environment-institutional evolution" research framework that takes the interaction of economic performance, institutional arrangements, and institutional environments as the main thread. By combining dynamic and static methods, it supplements point-in-time analysis with period reviews, evaluating the past and predicting the future, drawing innovative conclusions. These findings offer meaningful insights and lessons for other countries undergoing transformation, as well as valuable inspiration for Chinese researchers and practitioners in related fields.