Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bofitp/bdp2020_017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Russians' "impressionable years": Life experience during the exit from communism and Putin-era beliefs

Author

Listed:
  • Pyle, William
Abstract
This article links Russians' individual experiences during the late-Gorbachev and early-Yeltsin years to the beliefs those same individuals espoused in the Putin era, over a decade later. Drawing on questions, some of which are retrospective, from the first wave of the Life in Transition Survey, I show that a range of attitudes - including diminished support for markets and democracy and stronger support for reducing inequality - can be explained by whether an individual suffered labor market hardships (wage cuts, arrears, and/or unemployment) in the half decade from 1989 to 1994. More recent labor market disruptions, surprisingly, bear no such relationship to beliefs in 2006. Relative to the rest of the former Soviet Union, this pattern is unique. Though an explanation is difficult to pin down, one speculative hypothesis is that Russians were uniquely impressionable during this exit-from-communism period. Individual economic hardship, in conjunction with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, may have been particularly disorienting for those living in the country in which communism first took root. Life experiences during these years of instability, uncertainty, and diminished status may have left a uniquely deep and enduring impression.

Suggested Citation

  • Pyle, William, 2020. "Russians' "impressionable years": Life experience during the exit from communism and Putin-era beliefs," BOFIT Discussion Papers 17/2020, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bofitp:bdp2020_017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/240368/1/dp2017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Denisova, Irina & Eller, Markus & Frye, Timothy & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2009. "Who Wants To Revise Privatization? The Complementarity of Market Skills and Institutions," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 284-304, May.
    2. Padma Desai, 2001. "Work Without Wages: Russia's Non-Payment Crisis," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262041847, April.
    3. Sascha O. Becker & Lukas Mergele & Ludger Woessmann, 2020. "The Separation and Reunification of Germany: Rethinking a Natural Experiment Interpretation of the Enduring Effects of Communism," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 143-171, Spring.
    4. Denisova, Irina & Eller, Markus & Frye, Timothy & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2012. "Everyone hates privatization, but why? Survey evidence from 28 post-communist countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 44-61.
    5. De Haas, Ralph & Djourelova, Milena & Nikolova, Elena, 2016. "The Great Recession and social preferences: Evidence from Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 92-107.
    6. Megan Beckett & Julie Da Vanzo & Narayan Sastry & Constantijn Panis & Christine Peterson, 2001. "The Quality of Retrospective Data: An Examination of Long-Term Recall in a Developing Country," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(3), pages 593-625.
    7. Tim Friehe & Markus Pannenberg & Michael Wedow, 2015. "Let Bygones be Bygones? Socialist Regimes and Personalities in Germany," CESifo Working Paper Series 5440, CESifo.
    8. Belmonte, Alessandro & Rochlitz, Michael, 2019. "The political economy of collective memories: Evidence from Russian politics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 229-250.
    9. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00754602 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Alberto Alesina & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, 2007. "Goodbye Lenin (or Not?): The Effect of Communism on People," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1507-1528, September.
    11. Adsera, Alicia & Dalla Pozza, Francesca & Guriev, Sergei & Kleine-Rueschkamp, Lukas & Nikolova, Elena, 2019. "Transition from Plan to Market, Height and Well-Being," IZA Discussion Papers 12658, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Pannenberg, Markus & Friehe, Tim & Wedow, Michael, 2015. "Let Bygones be Bygones? Political Regimes and Personalities in Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112841, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Natkhov, Timur & Pyle, William, 2023. "Revealed in transition: The political effect of planning's legacy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:zbw:bofitp:2020_017 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. William Pyle, 2021. "Russia’s “impressionable years”: life experience during the exit from communism and Putin-era beliefs," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2022. "The Determinants of Population Self-Control," IZA Discussion Papers 15175, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Andreas Lichter & Max Löffler & Sebastian Siegloch, 2021. "The Long-Term Costs of Government Surveillance: Insights from Stasi Spying in East Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 741-789.
    5. Avdeenko, Alexandra, 2018. "Long-term evidence of retrospective voting: A natural experiment from the German Democratic Republic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 83-107.
    6. Tim Friehe & Markus Pannenberg, 2020. "Time preferences and political regimes: evidence from reunified Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 349-387, January.
    7. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Dahmann, Sarah Christina & Kamhöfer, Daniel A. & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah, 2019. "Self-control: Determinants, life outcomes and intergenerational implications," DICE Discussion Papers 319, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    8. Jin, Olivia & Pyle, William, 2023. "Labor market hardships and preferences for public sector employment and employers: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 577-591.
    9. Viktor Slavtchev & Michael Wyrwich, 2017. "TV and Entrepreneurship," Jena Economics Research Papers 2017-007, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    10. Lucie Coufalová & Lenka Kolajtová & Libor Žídek, 2023. "Public support for economic transition," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 161-187, January.
    11. Dragone, Davide & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2017. "Non-separable time preferences, novelty consumption and body weight: Theory and evidence from the East German transition to capitalism," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 41-65.
    12. Costa-Font, Joan & Nicińska, Anna, 2023. "Comrades in the family? Soviet communism and demand for family insurance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118472, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Chevalier, Arnaud & Marie, Olivier, 2024. "Risky moms, risky kids? fertility and crime after the fall of the wall," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    14. Irina Denisova & Markus Eller & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "What do Russians think about transition?1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(2), pages 249-280, April.
    15. Irina Denisova, 2016. "Institutions and the support for market reforms," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 258-258, May.
    16. Uwe Jirjahn & Cornelia Chadi, 2020. "Out-of-partnership births in East and West Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 853-881, September.
    17. Albrecht Glitz & Erik Meyersson, 2020. "Industrial Espionage and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(4), pages 1055-1103, April.
    18. Vladan Ivanović & Vadim Kufenko & Boris Begović & Nenad Stanišić & Vincent Geloso, 2019. "Continuity Under a Different Name: The Outcome of Privatisation in Serbia," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 159-180, March.
    19. Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe & Struewing, Cornelia, 2017. "Locus of control and performance appraisal," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 205-225.
    20. Lange, Martin, 2021. "The legacy of state socialism on attitudes toward immigration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 733-750.
    21. Chadi, Cornelia & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2019. "Does Society Influence the Gender Gap in Risk Attitudes? Evidence from East and West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 12100, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social preferences; beliefs; labor market; transition; Russia; Life in Transition Survey;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
    • P26 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Property Rights
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:bofitp:bdp2020_017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bofitfi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.