Ukrainian Political Economy : The First Ten Years

by Robert S. Kravchuk

• ISBN13: 9780312210342
• ISBN10: 0312210345
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2003-01-18
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This comprehensive and detailed examination of the challenges faced by the newly independent state of Ukraine argues that its lackluster economic performance during the 1990s was the unfortunate result of a combination of the hasty adoption of public policies not clearly understood and a prolonged struggle to build governmental institutions. With a focus on both how the government used financial repression to balance budgets, dampen inflationary pressures and, at the same time, maintain formal and informal subsidies to state enterprises. It makes original contributions to the debate on economic reform by focusing attention on Ukraine's critical choices in the areas of state institution-building, fiscal policies and monetary reform, and the government's preference for financially-repressive policy measures.

Author Biography

Robert S. Kravchuk is Associate Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington and has served as a member of numerous U.S. Treasury Department expert missions to former Soviet and Eastern European countries.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Foreword	xi
Taras Kuzio
Economic Crisis, Change, and Reform in the Ukrainian Context	1	(12)
The Ukrainian Economy in the 1990s	13	(24)
Establishing Economic Sovereignty, 1991--94	37	(26)
Kuchma as Economic Reformer, 1994--2001	63	(30)
The Challenge of Fiscal Reform	93	(50)
Tax Policy and Subnational Finances	143	(40)
From Hyperinflation to Stabilization, 1991--96	183	(50)
Appendix 7.1: Monetary Policy after the 1996 Currency Reform	215	(18)
Financial Repression in the Ukrainian Economy	233	(52)
Appendix 8.1: Contours and Performance of the Ukrainian Banking System	255	(14)
Appendix 8.2: Repeated Efforts to Repress Inflation, 1993--96	269	(16)
Notes	285	(58)
Index	343