Abstract
This article argues that there has been a fundamental shift in the relationship between satisfaction with economic performance and support for economic reform since the collapse of the Soviet Union. As there were no meaningful reforms until the Gaidar program of 1992, those supporting reforms in the late perestroika period were, in essence, doing so in hopes of economic improvements. In the Russian era, they have done so on the basis of realized benefits. Given more than 8 years of deteriorating economic conditions in Russia, one would expect to find that those opposing the reforms are those who have been hurt by them, while those supporting reforms are those who have benefited from them. This study aims to test this hypothesis by examining statistically the relationship between attitudes toward economic reform and economic conditions. Using more recent data, the subsequent analysis assumes that subjective evaluations of the economy, in addition to influencing an individual's support for reform, are also influenced by factors normally hypothesized to affect support for reform. We propose that past statistical analyses have introduced bias in estimated coefficients of the variables included in the market reform equation by failing to acknowledge this simultaneous relationship.