ABSTRACT
The Russian economy lost 45 percent of output during the transformational recession of 1989–98, income inequalities increased greatly, the crime rate doubled, and life expectancy went down from 70 to 65 years. The short-lived stabilization of 1995–98 (when the rouble was pegged to the dollar and inflation subsided) ended up in the spectacular currency crisis of August 1998 – the rouble then lost over 60 percent of its value in several months, inflation got out of hand again, and crime, suicides, and mortality increased once more.
