what kind of economy does Russia have?
TEXT: For Joseph Stiglitz, until last month the chief economist at the World Bank, the shift from central planning to the market is one of the most important developments in the history of economics. And in Russia, he says, the process went wildly wrong. /// STIGLITZ ACT ONE /// The economy today is much worse off today than it was a decade ago. Poverty is up, gross domestic product is down. One can say that the 1998 (I-M-F lending) program did not do what it was supposed to do. /// END ACT /// To stabilize Russia’s finances and boost reforms, the International Monetary Fund and Western donors provided billions of dollars of new loans to Russia in July 1998. Just three weeks later, in a spectacular failure, Russia devalued its currency and defaulted on much of its official debt. Mr. Stiglitz, now a researcher at Washington’s Brookings Institution, says as early as 1993 the I-M-F and Western aid consultants had it wrong when they urged Russia to quickly privatize state enterprises. Inst
