Post-crisis challenges of post-communist economies

After the collapse of the Communist regimes and their command economies, the countries of the former Soviet Union found themselves with only a very small amount of goods to supply to the global market.  In fact, no markets existed for many types of products.  There was no way that they could have existed in that an economy of this type is nothing more than a corpse or a so-called “necroeconomy.”  The purpose of the paper is to examine the key problems of post-Communist economies in the context of the modern financial crisis and to study the main challenges of post-Crisis period.  As international experience shows, dead firms do exist and “successfully” function in the most developed of economies as well with Japan being the most obvious example.  These insolvent and, in fact, bankrupt firms which continue to operate despite their “mortality” are commonly referred to as “zombie-firms.”  Unlike developed economies, which are exposed to the threat of the zombie-ing of the economy under the conditions of a financial crisis, this threat is even greater for the countries of post-Communist capitalism owing also to their exposure to necroeconomy.  It is found that the financial crisis creates the favorable conditions for the zombie-ing of a necroeconomy.  If in Japan, for example, the zombie-economy never touched the processing industries, then one of the qualities of the necroeconomy is to concentrate exactly upon this sector of the economy.  The zombie-ing of a necroeconomy inevitably amounts to the zombie-ing of this already dead sector as well.  The value of the paper is to determine the carriers of the necroeconomic and zombie-economic routines.  The only effective mechanism to get rid of both a necroeconomy and a zombie-economy is to adopt a sound bankruptcy law which, in turn, requires the strong political will of the ruling elite.