## Seductions of an Underdevelopment Trap: Systemic Impediments to Agricultural Reform in Russia

_IMF Working Papers, July 1, 2002_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Seductions of an Underdevelopment Trap: Systemic Impediments to Agricultural Reform in Russia](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/seductions-of-an-underdevelopment-trap-systemic-impediments-to-agricultural-reform-in-russia-15786)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Dmitry Gershenson, Maria Amelina
- Published: July 1, 2002
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451854916.001

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### Summary findings
- Despite ambitious agricultural reforms initiated by the federal government, inefficient and unprofitable producers predominate in post-Soviet Russia.
- Some regions, however, experienced a more robust restructuring of agricultural production while others remain dominated by Soviet-style coordination.
- The paper observes two Russian regions—one with substantially restructured agricultural production, and one in which Soviet-style coordination predominates—to analyze divergent regional outcomes.
- The authors develop a model of interactions between political and economic incentives that produces these divergent outcomes.

### Model and mechanisms
- The model links political incentives of regional governments with economic incentives of producers to explain persistence or breakdown of Soviet-style redistribution structures.
- It identifies region- and sector-specific characteristics that:
  - Encourage some regional governments to maintain Soviet-style redistribution structures and make producers forsake more efficient outcomes as more costly.
  - Encourage other regions to pursue reform and restructuring of agricultural production.

### Key subject areas and keywords
- Subject: Agricultural policy; Agricultural production; Agricultural sector; Economic sectors; Expenditure; Government subsidies; National accounts; Personal income; Production
- Keywords: Agricultural policy; Agricultural production; Agricultural sector; agriculture; B. government policy; collective farms; Global; Government subsidies; government subsidy; Personal income; Russian Federation; Saratov government; survival probability; transition; underdevelopment trap; world value government support; WP

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/30/seductions-of-an-underdevelopment-trap-systemic-impediments-to-agricultural-reform-in-russia-15786_