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Money Unmade - Barter and the Fate of Russian Capitalism (Paperback)
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Money Unmade - Barter and the Fate of Russian Capitalism (Paperback)
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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians have seen the
ruble steadily lose ground to alternative means of payment such as
barter and privately issued quasi-monies. Industry now collects as
much as 70 percent of its receipts in nonmonetary form, leaving
many firms with too little cash to pay salaries and taxes. In this
ground-breaking book on the Russian economy, David Woodruff argues
that Moscow's inability to control the nation's currency is not a
carry-over from the Soviet past. Rather, the Russian government has
failed to build the administrative capacity and political support
demanded by monetary consolidation-a neglected but crucial aspect
of capitalist statebuilding. Drawing on a vast array of empirical
evidence, Woodruff shows how the widespread use of barter arose as
local authorities tried to protect industry against the destructive
effects of price increases and crude tax and accounting systems. As
businesses fled or were driven from the money economy, provincial
governments invented new ways to tax in kind and issued substitutes
for the ruble. In turn, the federal authorities, unable to coerce
firms either to operate in the money economy or to abandon business
altogether, were forced to make accommodations to barter and to
ruble alternatives. Woodruff describes the enormous fiscal
difficulties that resulted and recounts the intense political
battles over attempts to address the problem. Through an overview
of monetary consolidation in other nations, Woodruff demonstrates
that the struggles of the new Russian state have much to teach us
about the political history of money worldwide. Sovereignty over
money cannot, he argues, be imposed by government on a recalcitrant
society. Nor can it be assumed as a by-product of disciplined
policies aimed at market reform. Monetary consolidation is, at
heart, a political achievement requiring political support.
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