If Money Only Grew on Trees: The Russian Forest Sector in Transition

Abstract

From Introduction:

"'Russia is endowed with enormous forest resources.' Unfortunately, this is a common claim based on misconception. Russia does not have enormous forest resources but a tremendous amount of forests, which is something quite different.

"Why is Russia, despite its affluence in terms of forests,unable to utilize its endowments to generate economic growth and social welfare? What happened to all the hope that the forest sector would become a central engine in the transition toward a Russian market economy? This article attempts to answer these questions by using the forest sector as an example,but other sectors would certainly apply."