Russia, Tsarist and Communist

Comparing alcohol mortality in Tsarist and contemporary Russia: is the current situation historically unique?

AIMS This study compared the level of alcohol mortality in tsarist and contemporary Russia. METHODS Cross-sectional and annual time-series data from 1870 to 1894, 2008 and 2009 on the mortality rate from deaths due to 'drunkenness' were compared for men in the 50 provinces of tsarist 'European Russia': an area that today corresponds with the territory occupied by the Baltic countries, Belarus...

Alcohol tax, consumption and mortality in tsarist Russia: is a public health perspective applicable?

BACKGROUND The public health perspective on alcohol comprises two main tenets: (i) population drinking impacts on alcohol-related harm and (ii) population drinking is affected by the physical and economic availability of alcohol, where alcohol taxes are the most efficient measure for regulating consumption. This perspective has received considerable empirical support from analyses of contempora...

THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF RUSSIA: Rural Support and Implications for the Party Syste m

Sophisticated Discipline in Nascent Deposit Markets: Evidence from Post-Communist Russia

In nascent markets with relatively immature institutions, do depositors have the capacity to discipline banks with poor fundamentals? If so, what information specifically guides their response? Using a database from post-communist, pre-deposit-insurance Russia, we present evidence for quantity-based sanctioning of weaker banks by both firms and households, particularly after the 1998 financial ...

Who Is Strong When the State Is Weak: Violent Entrepreneurs in Post-communist Russia