RUBLE OVERHANG AND RUBLE SHORTAGE - WERE THEY THE SAME THING

The Soviet Union was characterized in its last days by a ruble overhan g. Its successor states experienced ruble shortages during their tenur e within the ruble currency area that contributed to the final demise of that financial system. I demonstrate that these two phenomena were manifestations of the same economic imbalance: an inability of househo lds to convert financial wealth into purchasing power over commodities . (C) 1997 Academic Press.