Post-Soviet Russian transition preceded austerity that collapsed the wage share of GDP

Evidence

35 In Russia unemployment was 5 percent in 1991 and 13 percent in 1998 (see https:// www .macrotrends .net/ countries/ RUS/ russia/ unemployment - rate). Real wages declined 40 to 60 percent between 1987 and 1996, catalyzing a major reduction of wage shares, which dropped from 41 percent of GDP in 1987– 88 to 26 percent in 1993– 94 (see Milanovic 1998, 29). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1739

Categorization

• XREF: Concrete data point for the ‘transition’ as austerity episode — parallels the Latin American and Eastern European transitions Mattei treats as austerity-imposition sites. — connects to: Austerity failed to reduce Greek debt-to-GDP projections — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 201; Postwar austerity deliberately collapsed the wage share to crush egalitarian expectations. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1471
• SEED: The wage-share collapse from 41% to 26% of GDP is a stark statistic usable in an essay contrasting ‘transition economics’ rhetoric with measurable class redistribution.