Economy and Anti-economy: Transformation in the Post-Soviet Space

Abstract

The gist of this article is the idea that post-Soviet economy transformation, according to the statements of Western and Russian analysts, economists, politologists, and journalists was not only the refl ection of “pure” economic, social, and political progress, particularly at the initial stage. In this process we can find both elements of progress and regress, regimes of economics and anti-economics. The latter are occurred in the regimes producing economic (public and private) evil in different kinds of losses of scare human, material and other resources causing decrease of countries’ aggregate economic potential. Essential role in the revolutionary reforms direction and character was played by elite and population indoctrination which was done in the individualistic manner occurring in the economy as the market fundamentalism. In the result, reforms became anti-system and negatively infl uenced effectiveness of the public sector producing very important type of economic goods. Being the goods of common use produced in conditions of scarcity of resources, these system goods are used to form the economy infrastructure — material links (communication, roads, etc.) and non-material liaisons (political governance, legislative system). Society’s inability to reproduce these goods leads to system’s disease — the major expression of anti-economy in post-socialist countries.

Keywords:

anti-economy, post-socialist countries, reforms