Anders Aslund

Most people think that Russia's economic problems are due to the shock of fast and radical reforms. Actually, the Russian economy is not very liberalized at all, and its problems have been caused by reforms that were too slow and partial, not too sweeping. Russia suffers not from too free a market but from corruption, which thrives by preying on an unwieldy bureaucracy. Still, the outlook for the months ahead is promising. If Poland could do it, why can't Russia? The private sector got a salutary wake-up call from the 1998 collapse of the ruble, and the strength of the political center bodes well for economic recovery and social change.

The Western perception of Russia as a destitute country on the verge of collapse or of falling into the hands of fascists could not be further from the truth. Much of the Russian economy has been successfully privatized and is now relatively strong. Russia possesses the basic political and economic institutions to oversee the final stages of its transition to a market economy. It must now move to combat crime and to control inflation by finally adopting a full-fledged economic stabilization program. Even if they don't quite know it yet themselves, the Russians have already turned the corner on success.