Restructuring and Recovery of Output in Russia

This report summarizes the contribution of participants at a seminar held at IIASA on 9--11 June 1994, "Restructuring and Recovery of Output in Russia". This workshop had several goals: to understand the root causes and effects of the recent enormous output decline in Russia, to assess the amount of restructuring that has occurred in Russia, and to develop a path of restructuring for recovery of output in Russia. Insights into this broad agenda were made through seminar sections on macroeconomics and public policy, enterprise behavior, unemployment, and domestic and international competition. Under the rubric of these topics, seminar participants presented papers and had discussions ranging from the role of subsidies to measurement problems, from output to employment decline and their relationship to regulation and trade issues. When available, comparisons to the transition experiences of Central European countries were used. This wide array of paper presentations and discussions was moved to greater depth by the intense willingness of workshop participants from Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the West to share their experiences and engage each other with provocative thoughts. Through this process, the workshop was able to move toward a better understanding of what has occurred to output decline and restructuring as well as what the best path to further restructuring and output recovery will be for Russia's future. iii iv Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Macroeconomics and Public Policy