Publication

This study looks at the social consequences of Russia’s recent economic crisis, which is largely attributable to depressed energy prices. The text’s author argues that although the crisis has had a limited impact on the country’s job market, it has decreased real wages and incomes. As a result, individual Russians have cut their expenses, increasingly opted for informal jobs, and generally shifted towards a ‘shortage society’. The government, in turn, has become more repressive and shifted any and all blame for the poor economy onto local authorities.