Debating Belarus: an Economy in Comparative Perspective
Debating Belarus: An Economy in Comparative Perspective Grigory Ioffe and Viachaslau Yarashevich1 Abstract: A U.S.-based geographer and Belarusian political scientist assess the current economiccrisisinBelarus.Althoughthecountry’sfinancialsituationisseriousintheshort term, they argue that analysis of basic social and economic indicators provides some evidence of underlying strength and stability, recently bolstered by a number of trade agreements con- cluded with Russia in late 2011. The authors argue that the most natural and meaningful basis for ascertaining the health of the country’s economy is to compare it with those of its two Slavic neighbors, Russia and Ukraine. That comparison reveals that although Belarus ranks lower on most indices of economic reform, it has outperformed them during the post-Soviet period in several important categories (GDP growth, income equality, agricultural productiv- ity, expenditures on education and health care, life expectancy, and per capita agricultural output) and occupied an intermediate position (below Russia but above Ukraine) in others (e.g.,GDPpercapita,wagesandpensions,andlaborproductivity).Thepaper’sfinalsection discusses the nature of the relationship between Belarus and Russia (dependence vs. com- plementarity) and that between the Lukashenka regime and the Belarusian people. Journal of Economic Literature,ClassificationNumbers:E600,G010,H500,P200,P300.5figures, 8 tables, 101 references. Key words: Belarus, Lukashenka, ruble devaluation, IMF, Russia, energy imports, well-being, food security, privatization, subsidies, income distribution, educa- tion, health care. INTRODUCTION uring the course of the past 15 years, Belarus has earned the distinction of being the Dworld’s leader in the sheer number of dire predictions about its imminent economic col- lapse.
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