The Economy of Imposed Underdevelopment

摘要

At the dawn of market reforms in Russia, many believed that the handover of formerly state-owned enterprises to efficient private owners, who would literally hunt for technological innovations, would result in a large-scale deployment of advanced developments, new products, and modernization of the entire economy. As a result, the Russian economy was supposed to become competitive in the global high-tech market and to guarantee a decent standard of living to the country's population. It was taken for granted that the status of scientists would change for the better because the results of their work would be in high demand as never before in Soviet times. However, the experience of nearly a quarter of a century of Russian post-Soviet history has not only refuted these assumptions but has also exposed the systematic degradation of the country's technical, scientific, and educational potential.