The internationalization of Russian agriculture: Institutional reforms and domestic constraints, 1972--2002

The increase of energy exports and agricultural imports in the USSR beginning in 1972 indicated greater internationalization of the Soviet economy. According to liberal economic theory, greater internationalization of an economy affects domestic economic actors\u27 interests, leading eventually to institutional changes that support greater trade and greater interaction with the global economy. Jeffry Frieden and Ronald Rogowski further state that centrally planned economies are not immune from price shifts in the global economy because relative prices affect shadow prices, subsidies, tariffs, price controls, and rationing. ^ The increase in Soviet agricultural imports beginning in 1972 should have affected prices and the interests and policy preferences of decision makers, agricultural producers, and consumers. However, institutional reforms in the Russian agrarian sector did not occur before 1990 when the CPSU relinquished a monopoly on decision-making with the rescinding of Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution. In addition, institutional changes that occurred after 1990 appear inconsistent with liberal economic theory expectations. To explain resistance to privatization and farm reorganization, political culture and domestic structural approach are examined as possible intervening variables in liberal economic theory.