A nation must think before it acts.
FPRI’s Chris Miller’s book, “Putinomics”, Reviewed in Foreign Affairs
Miller challenges the popular notion that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s entire talent lies in using corruption to sustain a kleptocratic authoritarian regime. Putin and his loyalists certainly are corrupt, but he and the liberal technocratic economic team on which he relies have also skillfully managed Russia’s economic fortunes. As Miller recounts in this short and admirably clear book, Putin took over a debt-ridden, revenue-starved economy in 1999 and then forced the oligarchs to pay taxes, saved the windfall from soaring oil profits (and later used it to weather successive financial crises), paid off Russia’s debts, tamed inflation, and presided over rapid growth (fueled not only by oil profits but also by increased productivity).