| By: |
Ewa Dabrowska (University of Erfurt, Hamburg Institute of International Economics);
Joachim Zweynert |
| Abstract: |
An intense discussion is taking place in International Political Economy on
the influence of economic ideas on institutional change. Case studies so far
have, however, mainly focused on the Western industrialised countries and
research seems to be biased towards cases in which new ideas caused lasting
institutional change. The present paper addresses these two shortcomings by
analysing the case of the Russian Stabilisation Fund (SF). This case is an
example both of the impact of global ideas on a non-Western emerging country
and of a ‘near miss’ in the sense that imported neo-liberal ideas failed to
assert themselves enduringly. Paradoxically, it can be shown how the
neo-liberally based idea of the SF even contributed to the return to Soviet
patterns of industrial policy. The main reason for this, we argue, is that the
Fund’s implementation was not preceded by economic and political debates.
Accordingly, the imported institution of the SF had to be filled with
ideational content after its implementation. |
| Keywords: |
Ideas and institutions, institutional transfer, policy-learning, Russia, stabilisation fund, bricolage |
| JEL: |
B52 P28 Q33 |
| Date: |
2014–04 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:339&r=cis |