The Vanishing Rouble
Barter Networks and Non-Monetary Transactions in Post-Soviet Societies

An accessible and authoritative analysis of barter in the former Soviet Union.

Paul Seabright (Edited by)

9780521795425, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 November 2000

402 pages, 20 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

"...undoubtedly an important book...it provides a still rare example of how scholars from various professions can work together productively on the puzzling issues of the postsocialist transition." Slavic Review

One of the most remarkable aspects of the transition process in the former Soviet Union has been the extent to which the economy has effectively become demonetized in recent years. At the time of Russia's financial crisis of 1998 it was estimated that up to 70% of industrial output was being exchanged for barter. This book provides an accessible and authoritative analysis of barter in the former Soviet Union, addressing such questions as: • What has brought about this demonetization and why have we not seen the same phenomenon on a widespread scale in central and eastern Europe? • Does the nature of demonetization cast light on what underpins monetary transactions in industrial societies? • What are the consequences for output and growth? • Should the state intervene and how? • Does the network character of many non-monetary transactions have implications for the role and value of social networks in complex modern societies?

Introduction: barter networks and information islands Paul Seabright
Part I. Theory: 1. Some lasting thing: barter and the value of money Jayasri Dutta
2. Barter Relationships Canice Prendergast and Lars Stole
3. An anthropological view of barter in Russia Caroline Humphrey
Part II. Large Scale Empirical Studies: 4. Barter in post-Soviet societies: what does it look like and why does it matter? Alena Ledeneva and Paul Seabright
5. Different types of non-monetary transaction in Russia Simon Commander and Christian Mummsen
6. Barter in Russia Sergei Guriev and Barry W. Ickes
7. The household in a non-monetary market economy Simon Clarke
8. Barter in transition economies: competing explanations confront Ukrainian data Dalia Marin, Daniel Kaufmann and Bogdan Gorochowskij
9. Barter and non-monetary transactions in transition economies: evidence from a cross-country survey Wendy Carlin, Steven Fries, Mark Schaffer and Paul Seabright
Part III. Ethnography: 10. How is barter done? The social relations of barter in provincial Russia Caroline Humphrey
11. Shadow barter: economic necessity or economic crime? Alena Ledeneva
12. Surrogate currencies and the wild market in Central Siberia David G. Anderson
13. Bear skins and macaroni: the social life of things at the margins of a Siberian state collective Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov
Conclusion: what is to be done? Paul Seabright and Simon Commander.

Subject Areas: Economic systems & structures [KCS], Political economy [KCP], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Monetary economics [KCBM]