Economic Knowledge in Crisis: Economists and the State in the Late Soviet Union

This book aims to shed new light on the puzzle of the late Soviet conversion to the “market” and capitalism by revisiting the history of Soviet reform economics. Using a variety of sources, including interviews with economists, archival files, and published materials, it examines the social contexts in which economists employed in economic administration and research institutions could have played a crucial public and political role, the forms of their participation, and the social and political logic behind the selection of economic experts and their rise to power during perestroika and the “transition” period. It also compares the professional trajectories of these reformist economists and assesses the scope of this group’s influence in the post-Soviet period in order to conclude on the new state of economic expertise in Russia. Acknowledgments Contents About the Editor Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction: Economists and Social Change Questioning the Late Soviet Conversion to “Neoliberalism” The Neoliberal Hypothesis: A Global Diffusion of Policy Ideas? Crisis as a Framework for Radical Transformation Economics in Russia After 1991: Unfinished Internationalization? Tracing the Trajectories of Reform Economists The Socialist State and Economic Sciences: From Crisis to Another Identifying Government Economists Elements of a Collective Biography Outline of Chapters References Chapter 2: In the Service of the Soviet State Professionalization Without Autonomy At the Vanguard of the Soviet State: Between Utopia and Pragmatism The Sovietization of Economic Sciences Becoming a Soviet Economist Birth of Reform Economics from the Spirit of STR Toward a Greater Role for Economists in Government Institutional Spaces of New Policy Sciences Rationalizing in the Era of STR Forecasting Scientific and Technological Progress Disconnected from Life? Conclusion References Chapter 3: Academic-Bureaucratic Nexus Science of Upravlenie, or New Frontiers of “Scientific Management” Complex System Administrative System Human Factor Economic Autonomy (Khozrashchet) Enacting Reform Economics Producing the Academic-Bureaucratic Consensus Adopting the Framework of Acceleration Promoting the Reform of the “Economic Mechanism” Agricultural Economists in Reform Conclusion References Chapter 4: Economists and Politics Revising the Concept of Soviet Socialism Reforming the PES Back to “true Lenin’s principles” The Emergence of Anti-socialist Discourse Alliance of Economists and Farmers Paradox of the “Alienation” of Workers Under Socialism The Search for Solutions to “Resocialize” Agriculture Invention of the Soviet “Fermer” Economists in Parliament Economic Rationality Versus Populism From Resocialization to Privatization Passions for Private Property Conclusion References Chapter 5: Economists in Government Radical Economic Reform in the Making The Science of Economizing Appointment of Economists to the Government Abalkin Commission: Consideration of Alternatives Grigory Yavlinsky: Challenging the Government’s Concept of Reform “500 Days”: An Impossible Compromise “Becoming revolutionaries”: Young Economists’ Paths to Power Yegor Gaidar: The Path of Academic Expertise Leningrad: From “informal” Activities to Municipal Politics Broadening International Connections From Soviet to Russian Reform Government Shrinking Soviet Economic Governance Competition Among Teams of Reformers Building the “economic bloc” in the Russian Government Conclusion References Chapter 6: Economists in Transition Limitations and Constraints of Academic Internationalization The Incomplete Westernization of Russian Economics Epistemic Strategies of Transition Russian Reforms as a Laboratory for Policy Research Institutional Transformation of Economic Expertise From Gosplan to the Russian Government and Back Again Ecosystem of Reformist Expert Institutions The Counter-Expertise of the Academy of Sciences Conflict Between “old” and “new” Experts Post-Socialist Political Trajectories The Crystallization of the New Political Positions From Revolutionary to System Liberal The Weakening of Liberal Technocracy Conclusion References Chapter 7: Conclusion: Economic Knowledge and Authoritarian State References Appendix System of Economic Sciences in the Soviet Union and the Transition Period List of Economists Academic Economists Older Generation ( 1943) Administrative Economists Older Generation ( 1943) Selected Sources Archives Web-Archives Interviews by the Author Published Oral Interviews Memoirs Books of Interviews Index