Money Unmade

by Woodruff, David

• ISBN13: 9780801486944
• ISBN10: 0801486947
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-01
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr

Summary

Drawing on a vast array of empirical evidence, Woodruff shows how the widespread use of barter arose as local authorities tried to protect industry against the destructive effects of price increases and crude tax and accounting systems. As businesses fled or were driven from the money economy, provincial governments invented new ways to tax in kind and issued substitutes for the ruble. In turn, the federal authorities, unable to coerce firms either to operate in the money economy or to abandon business altogether, were forced to make accommodations to barter and to ruble alternatives. Woodruff describes the enormous fiscal difficulties that resulted and recounts the intense political battles over attempts to address the problem.

Author Biography

David Woodruff is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1998-99, he was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor of Sociology and Political Science at the European University of St. Petersburg.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables	ix
Preface	xi
Note on Transliteration	xvii
Introduction. Making Money	1	(20)
Making Money Multiple, 1924--1933	21	(35)
Things Come Apart, 1987--1991	56	(23)
Bender's Revenge, 1992--1993	79	(31)
Money Unmade, 1993--1994	110	(36)
Monies Multiply, 1994--1996	146	(31)
The Politics of Monetary Consolidation, 1996--1998	177	(26)
Epilogue, Russian Monetary Consolidation in Comparative Perspective	203	(16)
Appendix I. Internet Sources	219	(2)
Index	221