Measuring Social and Economic Change in Rural Russia: Surveys from 1991 to 2003

by David J. O'Brien

Measuring Social and Economic Change in Rural Russia is based upon nine household surveys in seven rural regions of Russia from 1991 to 2003; including a four wave panel study over an eight-year period. The findings that O'Brien and Patsiorkovsky share in this important work are the only long-term indicators of how ordinary people have learned to adapt to an economic system that was thrust upon them when the Soviet Union collapsed. Three main themes are explored: the relationship between formal and informal institutional change; regional responses to reforms; and the impact of household labor, social networks and community involvement, and physical capital on inequality in material, social, and psychological conditions. This comprehensive study's conceptual and interdisciplinary approach will appeal to anyone interested in the transition of countries from socialist to market economies.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2006

About the author

David O'Brien is Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies at the College of the Holy Cross and University Professor of Faith and Culture at the University of Dayton. He has served as President of the American Catholic Historical Association