Regional Disparities as Barriers to Transition to a Market Economy: The Russian Experience

This paper designs an index of socio-economic development in Russia following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. The purpose of this index is to act as a measure of a regions' economic potential for the purpose of regional comparison and also to help policy makers in designing future regional economic policy. Finally, with the use of this weighted index this paper proposes some suggestions concerning the future design of regional economic policy in Russia.