Quantifying price liberalization in Russia

We seek to quantify the success of Russia's attempt to achieve price-libera lization initiatives as part of the reforms established under the Big Bang of January 1992. We do so by studying the time-series behavior of commodity prices between 1992-1995 and focusing on the relationship between the beha vior of prices of similar goods within and across cities. We supplement thi s analysis by examining city-lever surveys that seek to quantify the extent to which firms are currently able to set and adjust commodity prices in ac cordance with market conditions. Our evidence suggests that price liberaliz ation gradually gained momentum following the Big Bang and that prices gene rally reflected market conditions by the first quarter of 1995. However, re gional pockets of resistance to price-reform efforts continue to persist, i ndicating that Russia has yet to achieve full market integration. (C) 1998 Academic Press.