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date: 15 May 2021

Abstract and Keywords

The nature, structure, and functioning of the contemporary Russian market economy has been substantially influenced by the legacies of its predecessor, the Soviet command economy.This chapter outlines the key defining characteristics of that prior economic system and how they influenced its functioning and performance.These characteristics determined a structure of production and interaction;a critical mass of economic, political, and social institutions;and patterns ofbehavior and understanding of economic and social processes that maintained a politically effective (if economically inefficient) system.That system was destroyed by the radical reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, yet it bequeathed many structures, institutions, and behaviors that remain, in varying degrees, as legacies of the prior economic system.Their impact lingers in the structural problems faced by the Russian economy and in the policies pursued by political leadership.Understanding these legacies is important to understanding the nature and path of development of the current Russian market economy.

Keywords: command economy, central planning, physical legacies, institutional legacies, behavioral legacies, Russian market economy

Richard E. Ericson

Richard E. Ericson is a Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at East Carolina University, and former Director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. His research interests include game theory, decision theory, and the development of post-Soviet economies. Stephen Fortescue is an Associate Professor of Russian Politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia. His research interests include business-government relations, the mining and metals industry, and the policy-making process in contemporary Russia.

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