Kenneth S. Rogoff Kenneth S. Rogoff  Views & Commentaries
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Has Russia Been on the Right Path? A Commentary By Kenneth
Rogoff Economic Counsellor and Director, Research Department,
IMF August 26, 2002  In June, the designation of Russia as a
"market economy" by the U. S. Department of Commerce—and the
announcement by the European Commission that it would follow
suit—was hailed by President Putin as a recognition of how far
Russia has come ten years after the dissolution of the Soviet
Union. This designation comes at a time when crises in some
Latin American countries and U.S. corporate scandals have
provoked soul-searching in many quarters about pro-market or
"neoliberal" policies.  So it is natural to ask: Has Russia been
on the right path? And where is it headed?  To some Western
observers, the answer to the first questio