Anti-Stieglitz (Russian Economic Reforms as Perceived by Western Critics)

Annotation
The slow economic development of post-communist Russia has been widely and negatively discussed by western economists . In fact, attacking Russian reform has become a popular trend. Furthermore, any attempt to justify or explain the events in Russia or to underline Russian achievements falls on deaf ears. My own experience, when offering a balanced account of the events in 1990s Russia, results in my listeners’ confusion and incredulity followed by sneers (questions like “We thought that the oligarchs had robbed the country?” or “Yeltsin is an alcoholic, isn’t he?”). It goes without saying that Russian reform is far from complete. However, it is important that the reform program be thoroughly assessed and professionally analyzed without bias.