Is the Transition to the Market too Important to be Left to the Market? - Working Paper

The period of so-called "market reforms" in Russia does not show obvious improvements in the well being of its citizens. This has led to an emerging consensus within the professional and popular literature which argues that the "triple transition"--transforming the economy, the polity, and the national psychology--is too difficult to be left to the market. In contrast to this argument, Boettke and Leeson contend in this working paper that it is precisely because the transition is so complicated and so important that market forces must be allowed to play the crucial role in the transition.