"Clifford G. Caddy and Barry W. Ickes examine how the Russian economy has evolved into a mutant form that combines elements of the market with institutions and behaviors that have a distinct, nonmarket character.". "Gaddy and Ickes put special focus on Russia's "virtual economy." Rooted in Russia's vast sector of hopelessly noncompetitive industrial enterprises and their struggle to survive in the hostile market environment, this mutant system in characterized by a set of informal institutions that permits the production and exchange of goods that are worth less than the value of the inputs used to produce them. Buyers and sellers collude to hide the fictitious nature of the pricing through the use of barter and other forms of nonmonetary exchange. Those who try to play by the normal market rules are penalized relative to those who play by the virtual economy's rules."--BOOK JACKET.