Rob, here's a brief item about Russia's production decline, from Saturday's Washington Post. I should warn that what it does not make sufficiently clear is that, until the recent crisis, Russians have actually had MORE, rather than LESS, access to consumer goods. That is because of imports, of course. Local markets have been bursting with goods brought in (from Turkey, mostly)by the nation's army of shuttle traders. And I would even contest the statement that "living standards have declined steeply." However, thanks to the ruble devaluation, imports of everything (including food, of course) are now priced out of reach of most people.
HARDSHIPS IN RUSSIA
Since the 1991 collapse of communism and the disintegration of the
Soviet Union, living standards in Russia have declined steeply, causing
poverty and despair among ordinary Russians. The nearly seven years
of market reforms have failed to transform agriculture and industry, and
the devaluation of the ruble in August has made imports of food and
goods much more expensive, further straining Russians' budgets. The
United States this week agreed to send 3.1 million metric tons of food
to sustain Russia through the winter.
Fewer domestic consumer goods have been available to the average
Russian in the past seven years. Here are some examples of declining
production figures:
1990 * 1997
Meat (including
poultry meat) 6.6 1.4 million tons
Butter 0.8 0.3 million tons
Canned goods 8.2 2.2 billion cans
Salt 4.2 2.1 million tons
Bread 18.2 8.9 million tons
Pasta products 1.0 0.5 million tons
Footwear 385.0 32.0 million pairs
Silk 1,051.0 134.0 million square yards
Coats 17.2 2.3 million (in 1992)
Cement 83.0 26.6 million tons
Beer 874.0 655.0 million gallons
Watches and clocks 60.1 5.0 million
Refrigerators/freezers 3.8 0.1 million
Vacuum cleaners 4.5 0.6 million
* data represent command economy, which had weakened substantially
by 1997
Production of industrial and consumer goods plummeted starting in 1991
and reached a low point in 1996.
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