ISBN Number: 9264011234
Published: November 2005
202 pages
13 tables

26 graphs

Since the break-up of the command and control system in 1992, regulatory reform in Russia has been both an instrument and a product of change. In the Soviet era, government involvement in economic activity was pervasive.  State action substituted for market mechanisms. Regulation as it is practiced in developed market economies did not exist – it was not needed in a centrally-planned economy. In the context of Russia’s transition, the freeing of prices, the creation of competitive markets, the privatisation of state assets and the liberalisation of foreign trade are all “regulatory reforms” as understood in this review. The transformation of the Russian economy has redefined the economic role of the Russian state. It has obliged the authorities to create regulatory institutions and procedures to meet the needs of a market economy.

Regulatory reform in Russia consists not so much in reducing the state’s role as in transforming it.  On the whole, broad-based regulatory reforms have been pursued vigorously. The liberalisation of prices and the establishment of free trade were accomplished quickly in the early 1990s, albeit with some significant exceptions. Although privatisation was very controversial, it has had a positive impact on business performance. It has proven much more difficult to reform the public administration, to create new regulatory institutions and to implement new, market-oriented forms of regulation. The adoption of effective competition policy and the reform of infrastructure industries have proved even more daunting challenges. Difficulties also surround the creation of a judicial system on which economic agents can rely for timely and effective enforcement of contracts and protection of property rights. The success or failure of reform in such areas will largely determine whether Russia can continue its current robust growth over the long term.