Ten years after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia’s measured output was still showing a net decline of around 40 per cent – but with no comparable decline in average living standards, both because the output drop affected mainly the defence sectors and because Russia’s participation in international trade had increased. At the same time there was greater inequality. And despite expansion of small businesses and the service sector, industrial restructuring had made only slight progress. This reflected geographical problems as well as underdevelopment of key market institutions such as property rights, hard budget constraints and the banking system, which meant that capital and labour markets barely functioned.