This book examines history of Russian finances in the period of Russia's transition from communism to capitalism in the 1990s and in the current decade. It focuses on obstacles to market reforms and macroeconomic policy choices that resulted in the state debt expansion and the financial crisis of 1998.

ANDREY VAVILOV joined the Russian Ministry of Finance in 1992 and resigned in 1997 as a First Deputy Minister of Finance. From 2002 to 2010 he served as a member of the Council of Russian Federation. He is a Visiting Senior Scholar in Penn State University and a scientific advisor to the Institute for Financial Studies.