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Incorrect English "The par capita calory consumption under Gaidar diminished by 3,5% from 2526,88 kCal to 2438,17 kCal" corrected to "Per capita calorie consumption under Gaidar diminished by 3.5% from 2526.88 kCal to 2438.17 kCal" (not "The par capita consumption" but "Per capita consumption", not "calory" but "calorie", not decimal commas but decimal point).~~~~ |
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===Reforms controversy===
Gaidar was often criticized for imposing ruthless reforms in 1992 with little care for their social impact, however, it has to be understood that the country back then was at the brink of a [[famine]]. Russia had no currency for buying import goods, at the same time, no-one gave credits as the country was essentially bankrupt<ref>[http://expert.ru/2009/12/17/reformy_gaidara/ Гайдар и его реформы] by Григорий Герасимов</ref>. The collapse of the Soviet social system led to serious deterioration in [[standard of living|living standards]]. Millions of Russians were thrown into poverty due to their savings being devalued by massive [[hyperinflation]]. Moreover, the [[privatization in Russia|privatization]] and break-up of state assets left over from the Soviet Union, which he played a big part in, led to much of the country's wealth being handed to a small group of powerful business executives, later known as the [[Business oligarch#Yeltsinian oligarchs|Russian oligarchs]], for much less than what they were worth. The voucher privatization program enabled these few oligarchs to become billionaires specifically by arbitraging the vast difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market. Because they stashed billions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts rather than investing in the Russian economy, these oligarchs were dubbed "kleptocrats."<ref name=Granville>Johanna Granville, [https://www.academia.edu/5597850/The_Russian_Kleptocracy_and_Rise_of_Organized_Crime "''Dermokratizatsiya'' and ''Prikhvatizatsiya'': The Russian Kleptocracy and Rise of Organized Crime,"]''Demokratizatsiya'' (summer 2003), pp. 448-457.</ref> As society grew to despise these figures and resent the economic and social turmoil caused by the reforms, Gaidar was often held by Russians as one of the men most responsible.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091216/ts_nm/us_russia_gaidar_death |title=Russia's market reform architect Gaidar dies at 53|agency=[[Reuters]]|publisher=[[Yahoo! News]]|accessdate=17 December 2009}} {{Dead link|date=January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-16/famous-russian-politician-yegor.html |title=Famous Russian politician Yegor Gaidar dies |work=[[Russia Today]] |accessdate=17 December 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091217114832/http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-16/famous-russian-politician-yegor.html |archivedate=17 December 2009 |deadurl=yes |df=dmy }}</ref> On the other hand, the ubiquitous goods deficit of the Soviet years disappeared and it became to be possible to buy all goods in the shops.
One of Gaidar's most outspoken critics was the [[Yabloko]] economist and MP [[Grigory Yavlinsky]], who had proposed since 1990 a [[500 Days]] programme for the transition of the whole USSR to market economic, which was first backed and then dismissed by the government of [[Nikolai Ryzhkov]]. Yavlinsky emphasized the differences between his and Gaidar's reforms program, such as the sequencing of [[privatization]] vs. [[liberalization of prices]] and the applicability of his program to the entire Soviet Union.
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