was operating to such a large extent on barter and other non-monetary instruments of exchange, the financial collapse had far less of an impact on many producers than it would have had the economy been dependent on a banking system. Finally, the economy was helped by an infusion of cash. As enterprises were able to pay off debts in back wages and taxes, consumer demand for goods and services produced by Russian industry began to rise. Positive effect The crisis was praised by James Cook, the senior vice president of The U.S. Russia Investment Fund, on the basis that it taught Russian bankers to diversify their assets. Economist Anders Åslund credits the 1998 financial crisis with providing the decisive push towards real market economy in Romania and most of the post-Soviet countries (which, until then, had only liberalized slowly and partially). For instance, Romania's first major privatization along with the first privatization of a state-owned Romanian bank took place in the aftermath of the Russian crisis, at the end of 1998, November and December respectively. See also GKO-OFZ, Russian government bonds Great Recession in Russia Long-Term Capital Management, hedge fund sunk in the wake of the Russian crisis Russian financial crisis (2014–2017) 2022 Russian financial crisis Contemporaneous financial crises 1997 Asian financial crisis 1998–2002 Argentine great depression, which then led to the 2002 Uruguay banking crisis Lost Decade, Japan's economic crisis Samba effect General Flight-to-liquidity Sovereign default Vulture fund References Further reading Chronology of the Russian Financial Crisis 1998 by Clifford Chance. Overview of Structural Reforms in Russia after 1998 Financial Crisis by S.A. Vasiliev, International Monetary Fund, 16 February 2000. 1999 IMF World Economic Outlook, Interim Assessment, Ch. II: The Crisis in Emerging Markets , International Monetary Fund, December 1999. Russia's Silent Middle Class , by Carol Clark, CNN, September 1998 Economic history of Russia Russian financial crisis Stock market crashes Debt Political history of Russia Russian Financial Crisis, 1998 1998 disasters in Russia Boris Yeltsin