Each year, Moscow hosts a couple of major economic conferences. Yevgeny Yasin will organize one at the Higher School of Economics in early April, and Vladimir Mau organized the Gaidar Forum on Jan. 18 to 21. These events offer a good overview of Russia's economic policy discussion.

We all agree. Russia needs to be rebuilt. Ample material is available: talented human capital, lots of cash and plenty of raw materials. But how should it be done? The downside is that Russia's two biggest problems of corruption and authoritarianism are crippling the country.

On Nov. 10, the World Trade Organization Working Party for Russia's accession to that organization finally approved the country for membership after 18 years of negotiations. On Dec. 15-17, the WTO ministerial conference in Geneva will also approve Russia's bid. Then, the State Duma has six months to ratify the membership, and then, one month later, Russia will formally be a member.

After a long rest, alternating between publicity stunts and foreign trips representing Gazprom, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has suddenly woken up with the announcement about his renewed presidential ambitions and several substantial policy statements.

This year's Yalta European Strategy conference, or YES, organized and largely financed by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, was held from Sept. 15 to 18. This was the sixth YES that I have attended, and Pinchuk seems to make it better each year.

The 20-year commemoration of the abortive August 1991 coup is an opportune time to contemplate what has been accomplished and what has failed in Russia. The putsch showed that the old Communist political establishment was moribund, the Soviet Union was finished, and the Soviet economic system had stopped functioning. They all had to be replaced.

Although global oil prices have been high during the first six months of 2011, Russia's economy is expanding by a moderate rate of 4 percent. At present, there is no reason to believe that the country will return to the average growth of 7 percent that it experienced from 1999 to 2008. Undoubtedly, Russia can perform much better but only if very substantial changes are undertaken.

Watching the current euro-zone crisis unfold, Russians can proudly say they eliminated their public debt. By contrast, the euro-zone decision makers have made nearly every conceivable mistake, and they keep repeating them.

Once again, Belarus has entered one of its many payments crises. Usually, such a crisis ends with Russia bailing the country out. A bailout attempt has been carried out this time as well, but this Belarussian crisis may be more onerous.

The differences between Medvedev's Magnitogorsk speech in March and Putin's address to the State Duma last week highlight how the conflict between the two leaders has come out into the open.

Of all the post-Communist countries, none has been more successful in its reforms than Estonia. Today, it is difficult to imagine that only 20 years ago, Estonia and Russia were republics in the same state.

The current events in the Middle East are of great significance for Russia and the other former Soviet republics. There is a wealth of comparative studies of revolutions and democratic breakthroughs that can help us discern Russia's possible prospects.

The peculiar exchange rate and monetary policy Russia has pursued in the last year has become a little noticed fact, but it has led to capital outflows and rising inflation. It might have been useful in the short term, but it can hardly continue for long because inflation is becoming the dominant concern.

When Russian leaders review the country’s economic development in 2010, they can only be disappointed. There were no great economic disasters, but Russia has clearly underperformed its peers.

During the past two years, the mood in Russia has changed profoundly. Euphoria and complacency have been replaced with cynicism and pessimism. A broad conviction has spread that the country is condemned to a growth rate of, at most, 3 percent to 4 percent a year.

After two years, the global financial crisis has abated and the world economy is set to grow by an impressive 4.8 percent this year. Most governments, apart from some Western culprits, are congratulating themselves for their good crisis management.

Some advice to a young Russian woman: “It is better to marry a top state official than an oligarch. The money is the same, but job security is so much greater.” All surveys show that Russia’s pervasive corruption is increasingly concentrated to the top.

At a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February 1992, Anders Aslund and other advisers to Russia’s young reform government discussed how to pursue privatization. As the nation enters another round of privatizations, Aslund offers his view on what works and what doesn't.

The Kremlin realizes that its old aggressive policy toward countries in the former Soviet Union has completely failed. Its new policy is pragmatic and presents an opportunity for the West to engage with Russia anew.

The financial crisis has actually had a positive impact on Russia’s economic thinking, and the nation has proven itself. Yet, budget deficits and unfocused efforts on modernization remain.

Russia just weathered a perfect storm of oil price decrease, political isolation and reversed capital flows. Short term, the nation is in decent condition. But if Russia is to succeed in the long run, it urgently needs far more structural reform than it has undergone thus far.

After Viktor Yanukovych was elected Ukraine’s president, his slogan was “Stability and Reform.” In reality, he has delivered an impressive consolidation of power, while reforms are becoming less likely.

A former economic advisor to Kyrgyzstan's ex-president, Askar Akayev, says the country's main problems are its mild authoritarianism and massive corruption.

The big question today is whether the new Ukrainian government will carry out badly needed market reforms.

The Russian economy has recovered as the crisis has abated, but Gazprom may suffer from a profound structural crisis.

Yegor Gaidar was the only Russian economist able to conceptualize a viable economic policy during the early days of the Russian Federation.

Fyodorov had learned to stay away from two things: the Russian state and politics.

The Kremlin is spoiling its relations with its neighbors in a seemingly mindless fashion.

Russian leaders' ambitions notwithstanding, the ruble hardly complies with the demands for a reserve currency and cannot possibly become one for the next half-century.

It cannot be denied: Exchange rate policy around the world is confused and lacks theoretical ground.