Russian Federation

The objective of this study is to 1) review the situation and trends in terms of child welfare outcomes in Russia; 2) review and evaluate social policy responses; 3)... Show More + identify major issues and challenges; and 4) propose policies and measures that would improve child well-being outcomes. The study consists of two parts. the first part reviews child welfare outcomes during the 1990s, focusing on child poverty and vulnerability, as well as health, education, and nutrition status. Chapter 2 links child well-being outcomes to the protracted economic crisis and related labor market developments, high inequality, rapid demographic and family formation changes, as well as generally insufficient, severely fiscally constrained and ineffective policy responses. Chapter 3 examines public policy responses in social protection, health and education, focusing on safety nets particularly policies targeting families and children. the second part of the study focuses on two groups of children identified as particularly vulnerable in Russia: children deprived of birth family upbringing and children with disabilities. the chapter on the former highlights their growing numbers against a continued decline in the child population, as well as the continued practice of costly, detrimental to child development and ineffective long-term institutionalization of such children. It reviews legal and institutional reforms undertaken so far and identifies challenges related to designing effective reform. Show Less -

The study identifies key issues in pre-university education, including vocational, to assist the Government in the efforts to articulate and implement its program of... Show More + education reform. Hence, future operational assistance in Russian education, will rely on the findings of this study. The first chapter of the report reviews the Russian education, through primary and secondary data analysis, in addition to discussions with educators in the country. The second chapter examines differences in the provision of education across the country, and demonstrates growing inequalities in fund allocations, and spending, at regional levels, through an analysis of budgetary trends in eighty-nine regions. The third chapter spells promising policy options, to finally provide detailed descriptions of the contrasting educational situations, and reform efforts, in Samara and Novgorod, along with data tables that demonstrate the developments in the country's transition to a market-based education service system. Show Less -

This study aims to update the understanding of who is poor in Russia and explore possible improvements in targeting. It will also aid evaluation of the targeting experiments... Show More + of the social assistance pilots launched by the Russia government by placing them in a national context. Accurately identifying the poor will allow the Russian government to target resources to these people, reducing the overall fiscal burden of generalized cross-subsidies and non-targeted benefits The first chapter lays out the background of the study, its objectives, and some methodological details. Chapter Two includes a description of the major correlates of longer-term poverty in Russia. Chapter Three is a study of targeting and how the poor can be identified. Chapter Four concludes with directions for further research. The annexes are concerned with methodological issues, while Annex 3 contains extensive poverty cross-tabulations for both cross sectional and panel data. Show Less -

This forest policy review outlines the significance of Russia's forest resources, key challenges and opportunities, a sector reform agenda, and the need for public investment... Show More + and assistance (both technical and financial) from the international community. Table 1 overviews key conclusions, recommendations, and issues for a dialogue with various stakeholders, experts, and policymakers related to Russia's forest sector. This sector is of major national and global significance accounting for approximately 60 percent of Russia's total land base with 5.4 percent of total export earnings in 1995; (potentially) a major source of tax revenues; and employing about 2 million people or 3 percent of total employment. At the global level, Russia's forest sector accounts for significant shares of the world's forested area, of the global carbon terrestial pool, of carbon sink capacity, and of standing timber volume. The author concludes that higher stumpage charges will discourage over-exploitation of forest resources and waste from harvested wood, thereby promoting efficiency and sustainable sector development. Moreover, he recommends establishing a national forest policy framework for resource sustainability that protects environmental values, strengthens traditional communities and economies, and ensures the productive potential of the forest resource, at both the regional and national levels. Show Less -

The structural transformation of the Russian economy since 1992 has been accompanied by major changes in the country's fiscal picture, ranging from massive reductions... Show More + in government spending to fiscal decentralization. Still ahead lies the need for more efficient fiscal management. The remaining fiscal challenge is to ensure the durability of the government's stabilization policies by maintaining a low fiscal deficit and improving the allocative and redistributive efficiency of government resources. Despite significant progress since 1992, budgets have not yet adapted to the far-reaching changes brought by the transition. This report analyzes the deficiencies of the budget system and recommends ways to improve fiscal management so that it meets the requirements of a decentralized market-based economy. It focuses on two crucial and interrelated features of fiscal management which, to a large extent, determine the outcome of fiscal policy and the allocative efficiency of government resources: 1) intergovernmental fiscal relations; and 2) the structural, technical and institutional aspects of the budget system. Show Less -

The authors note to the reader that housing is not a very complex technical good to produce in an industrial society. However, it is perhaps the most complex economic... Show More + good to analyze and manage properly. The durability of housing units is measured in decades. Housing units are quite heterogenous in terms of design, building technology, age, and available utilities. Their value goes beyond the physical changing with the ecological quality, social services, and infrastructure of the neighborhood. Another major feature of housing as a good is its extensive financial, fiscal and physical regulation by government. These characteristics of housing explain why indirect policy instruments operating in decentralized, locally regulated housing markets work much better than direct, centralized interventions by the state in raising the efficiency of the sector, and meeting the needs and preferences of the population. Due to the bulk of this report, the authors have created an executive summary which can be read as a stand alone document. The summary details the history of the Soviet urbanization, its vastly undervalued housing market due to the absence of land markets, and its lack of quality. The authors go on to examine the current housing situation in Russia, and the effects of political change on this good, linking economic instability to conditions in the housing sector itself. There is also an account of the Russian government's evolving response to these housing challenges and finally a reform strategy to move to a market approach is proposed. Show Less -

This report is about people - coal miners, other workers in the coal industry, and their families - many of whom work and live in isolated communities where production... Show More + of coal is the only reason to be there. The coal industry is now shrinking and many of these people face the prospect of losing their jobs. In some regions the chances of finding a new job are low. Yet the existing social safety net is totally inadequate to cope with the large numbers of families who will be affected. The Government has the option of using the existing budget subsidies to provide and adequate social safety net for those who agree to leave the coal industry. The challenges facing the Government and the coal industry is to ensure that the declining subsidies are used efficiently - and in a way that minimizes hardship in coal communities affected by employment reduction. The goal of restructuring is to adapt to the new market environment. The Government's strategy for restructuring should be decentralized. The key actors should be the local mining companies and the local governments in those areas. The management team of each local mining company must have the freedom to set its own selling prices and to negotiate wages, benefits, implementation of severance packages and mine closure directly with their employees. Local mining companies should work together with their local government agencies, coal labor unions and community representatives - using external assistance where necessary - to prepare their own restructuring programs and related social programs. Employment reduction, with or without mine closures, should not take place until an adequate social safety net is in place and fully funded. The impact of restructuring on employment will vary greatly across the coal basins, but the Government should take all possible steps to promote labor mobility between regions. This report includes key findings and recommendations relating to: 1) price control; 2) subsidies & wages; 3) transport costs; 4) coal industry strategy; 5) employment reduction; 6) the social safety net; 7) housing; 8) safety, health & environment, and 9) next steps and targets. Show Less -

Even after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia remains the world's largest country, twice the size of the contiguous United States. In a country of this size, one... Show More + finds enormous geographic diversity. The enclosed set of maps, tables and charts attempts to highlight the differential impact that economic transformation is having on the regions. While Russian data (especially economic indicators) suffer from severe deficiencies and inconsistencies, some clear trends do emerge and are mapped and discussed in this paper. This work is also meant to provide a catalyst and direction for future research on regional economic reform. To that end, there is an appendix listing sources of regional data available for more in-depth or further analysis. Part I therefore shows the current political-administrative structure of Russia. The maps in Parts II and III show selected population characteristics, including the ethnic composition. Par IV discusses Energy and Natural Resources. Part V shows the industrial geography of Russia and the pace of industrial decline, privatization of industrial plants, industrial concentration, and defense production by region. Part VI shows the pace of nonindustrial privatization. Maps showing the social aspects of reform are in Part VII. Part VIII shows the growing disparities in the fiscal status of regions. This report consist of two volumes. Volume I is the main report and maps, while Volume II contains data tables. Show Less -

Social protection is a crucial element in Russia's transition from a command economy. Stabilization and economic restructuring are critical for long-term economic growth... Show More + but they impose serious social costs in the short term. Immediate falls in output and employment will be followed by changes in the structure of the economy across sectors and regions. This will have an impact whose effects will vary among social groups and individuals, many of whom were not previously poor. At the same time, the system of social protection must operate within the fiscal constraints imposed by the collapse of economic activity and the need to reduce the budget deficit. Unless the Russian economy stabilizes significantly and growth resumes, its people will be unable to benefit from improved access to income earning opportunities, which must be the main guarantee of social protection. Furthermore, social protection policies must support the development of an efficient labor market in Russia. Strategies for social protection will play a critical role during the transition in Russia and beyond. Current arrangements require reshaping to meet the needs of a market economy. This report recommends changes in the design of social assistance, pensions, unemployment benefits, and other allowances and measures to improve the efficiency of the labor market. Although the immediate concern is largely for those adversely affected by the economic crisis and transition, it is important that short-term measures do not undermine longer-term strategies aimed at shifting to a market-oriented system where individuals and households take primary responsibility for their own welfare. Show Less -

This report explores ways to expand Russia's trade in line with comparative advantage and in the process integrate the country into the world economy. Russia's trade... Show More + has been hit very hard since 1990. Large declines have occurred both in the volume of trade within the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and with the rest of the world. Some of the decline has resulted from reduced demand and falling incomes; some has been due to the breakdown of central planning and because new market mechanisms take time to develop. Longer term declines in international trade were expected, as previous links were not based on comparative cost and location advantage. The precipitous drops in trade volumes that are occurring, however, are a cause of concern because they reinforce the disruption in production and the declines in incomes. Meeting the challenge of expending trade will require action across a wide ranging policy agenda and particularly in the interlinked areas of trade and price reforms and institutional development. Show Less -