In 1991, Russia faced an acute financial crisis. The price of oil had declined at $10 a barrel and Gorbachev had borrowed tens of billions of dollars from 1985 to 1991. China did it without us, without American help for the most part. So what is it about Russia that meant Russia couldn't do it?
Tyler Cowen and Jeffrey Sachs discuss the resource curse, why Russia failed and Poland succeeded, charter cities, Sach's China optimism, JFK, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, whether Africa will be able to overcome the middle income trap, Paul Krugman, Sach's favorite novel, premature deindustrialization, and how to reform graduate economics education.
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