Papers on post-Soviet Integration

Vinokurov E. (2010) International Financial Centre in Moscow: What Would It Take? WorldFinanceReview, December

The idea of Moscow becoming one of the global financial centres reflects a concentrated vision of a broad set of goals for the development of the financial system of the country and more active participation by Russia in the global financial infrastructure. It also reflects the country's intention to become the designated financial centre for the post-Soviet space. For this vision to become a reality, Kazakh, Ukrainian and Belorussian companies would need to change their listing preferences from London, Hong Kong, New York or Warsaw to Moscow. The CIS-based companies would turn to Moscow stock market only if they can successfully raise more capital on more favourable terms. That fact implies two questions. First, whether Russia' neighbours currently need Moscow as a regional financial centre to satisfy their needs. Second, under which conditions this might be the case.

This short article is linked to the EDB Report no. 10 on Russian and Kazakh Stock Markets.

Vinokurov, Evgeny (2010) The Evolution of Kazakhstan’s Position on Relations with Russia in 1991-2010. MPRA Working Paper 22187.

The current phase of Kazakhstan's foreign policy, marked by the establishment of the Customs Union and intensive work on the Single Economic Space with Russia and Belarus, is different from and similar with the previous phases at the same time. It is different in regard to the fact that, for the first time in 20 years, the integration breakthrough is real. At once, it is similar to the previous phases since Kazakhstan continues to aim at balancing interests of major players in the region and avoiding Russia’s economic and political dominance.

 

Vinokurov E. (2010) Knitting Europe and Asia into Eurasia: Kazakhstan's Foreign Economic Policy. WorldFinanceReview, September

Russian-Kazakh relations are shaping positive trends for regional cooperation in the post-Soviet space. At the same time, Kazakhstan continues – consciously and consistently – to aim at balancing the interests of major players in the region and avoiding economic and political dominance by Russia or China. In doing so, the country aims to knit Europe and Asia into Eurasia – and capitalise on that.

Vinokurov E., Libman A. (2010) Trendy regionalnoy integracii na postsovetskom prostranstve: rezultaty kolichestvennogo analiza [Post-Soviet Regional Integration Trends: Results of Quantitative Analysis], Voprosy Economiki, 7. http://www.vopreco.ru/rus/year.files/n7_2010.html#an8

Libman A., Vinokurov E. (2010) Is It Really Different? Patterns of Regionalization in the Post-Soviet Asia. Frankfurt School Working Paper 155.

While the regional economic integration encompassing the whole of the former Soviet Union (FSU) transpires to be inefficient, there appears to be a stronger interest in regionalism in smaller groups of more homogenous and geographically connected countries of the region, specifically, Central Asia. Using a new dataset, we find that although the economic links between the Central Asian countries are more pronounced than between that of the CIS in several key areas, this advantage has been disappearing fast over the last decade. In addition, the trend of economic integration of Central Asia strongly correlates to that of the CIS in general. Currently Central Asia should be treated as a sub-region of the post-Soviet world rather than a definite integration region.On the other hand, however, we find that Kazakhstan emerges as a new centre for regional integration, which can bear some potential for regionalism in Central Asia, and that there is an increasing trend towards greater economic interconnections with China in Central Asia.

Libman A., Vinokurov E. (2010) Holding Together Regionalism and the Interaction of Functional Bureaucracies. MPRA Working Paper. http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/23217/1/MPRA_paper_23217.pdf

Libman A., Vinokurov E. (2010) Regional Integration and Economic Convergence in the post-Soviet Space: Experience of the Decade of Growth. MPRA Working Paper. http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/21594/1/MPRA_paper_21594.pdf

World bank, Eurasian Development Bank (2010) Central Asia in 3D. In English and Russian.