The Economic Crisis in Russia: Fragility and Robustness of Globalisation

Abstract

It is now clear that the global economic crisis has hit the Russian economy. The resulting shock clearly shows not only the global economic imbalance but also the distinct characteristics of emerging Russian markets. The Russian economy already changed its structure under the high economic growth of the early to mid-2000s, and has since then become too sensitive to the global market and the oil price. However, the Russian markets involve the strong hand of the government, and the anti-crisis policy gives this hand constancy. The crisis process and the anti-crisis measures characterize the Russian market institutions. The current paper investigates the characteristics of the Russian markets under both the economic growth period and the crisis period, and offers perspective on the market transition.