Coping with Uncertainty: The Role of Contracts in Russian Industry during the Transition to the Market

In the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia earned a reputation for being a chaotic environment for business. Some commentators went so far as to label it as the "Wild East," a scary place where law was largely irrelevant and criminal gangs held sway. In a series of articles, I have begun to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the day-to-day reality of life for industrial enterprises in Yeltsin's Russia. The picture that emerges is more nuanced than the stereotype of industry beholden to the mafia that the popular media has perpetuated.

In this article, I turn my attention to the role of contracts.