Daniel Gross sees "Soviet-style price controls" returning to Russia. Tyler Cowen disagrees seeing stylistically different and less pernicious price controls now coming into vogue. To back Tyler up, I'll note that in Nizhny Novgorod circa 1998 at least a lot of food was being retailed in very informal shops and stands where one would expect enforcement of price control regimes to be very lax. It's quite possible that given the improved economic conditions of the past ten years, these distribution mechanisms have fallen into disuse in favor of a supermarkets, but surely things can flip back if necessary.
« Fear Itself | Main | Dreamworld »
The Variety of Price Control Experiences
01 Nov 2007 08:28 am
Comments (5)
As someone who was in Russia about a year ago, let me defend the more famous Matt from the less famous one.
If you don't see the existence of more-or-less informal food (and drink) retail in Russia, you're either not looking very hard or only looking in Moscow/St Pete's/Nihzny and not at the vast bulk of the country.
I sure saw a lot in Irkutsk/Yekaterinburg/etc. Take the Trans-Siberian and watch the peasant ladies who run alongside the train as it rolls into the station, baskets of (horrible, boiled/pickled) goods in their arms. Try the open-air market in the center of Irkutsk. Try walking outside the main tourist areas in Kazan. Really.
Andrew,
In fact I sometimes live in a provincial city in Russia (my wife and I have an appartment there) and I visit regularly. I spend much more time outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg than in them and have traveled extensively around the country (incuding the places you mention). The informal markets are still around some but much, much less than in the past and are being rapdily "domesticated". The changes from '98 or so are clear and massive to anyone who has seen them. It's not clear they could go back and just making stuff up (like the famous Matt likes to do about Russia- he doesn't even show evidence of seriously reading news reports on it) is to be a bull-shitter.
My impression from reading this blog is that Matt the Famous once spent a month in Russia on an exchange program or something when he was, what, 16? 17? and thence is his knowledge derived. He does not speak Russian, he has not travelled widely in Russia or worked there. He is exposing himself to a tremendous amount of potential ridicule everytime he tries to pretend this experience gave him any expertise whatsoever. Matt the famous would do well to heed Matt the Non-Famous' advice. Or as they say in Russia - ne vypendrivaisya.
From an article I read in the FT last week, this "voluntary" price control is essentially part of Putin's election campaign and therefore very much Soviet-style, I'd argue.
Comments closed November 15, 2007.
| 
Heads in the Sand
Matt, you've clearly written this without thinking about it at all. Why would what was the case in Nizhny Novgorod in '98 say much about what's happening now? The situations are quite different. For one, markets are now _much_ less common than in the past, those that exist have been largely "domesticated" in that they have been forced inside structures where they can be more closely controled, and the law now forbids "foreigners" from working at most markets. Since they did much of the work this has had a bit effect. And, supermarkets are not all over in Russia. It's true that the price controls are not "soviet style". They are mostly for the sake of the up-comming duma elections. But your analysis here shows not a bit of knowing what you're talking about and no effort to fine out. You should take a bit more care to not build a reputation of spouting out poorly digested thoughts about things you don't know much about as it will give you a reputation of being a bull-shitter.
Posted by Matt (not the famous one) | November 1, 2007 9:16 AM