ABSTRACT
An international committee of experts charged with compiling a list of conditions that maximize the potential for a large underground economy would invent the Soviet Union. The day-to-day activity within the Soviet official economy was therefore flush with private economic endeavours. Market activity likewise thrived more far removed from the official economy. Individual artisans of all sorts operated illegally, either because their activity was prohibited or because they failed to procure the required licence. The market economy of the Soviet era was an indispensable part of the overall economy. The reform years have brought with them a partial surfacing of pre-existing economic activity, as well as a spurt in new private enterprise, both legal and illegal. Throughout the 1990s there have been many reports of potential Russian famine during the wintertime. The tradition of private activity within the Russian economy is quite extensive.
