Legacy Effect of Soviet Budgeting System on Public Capital Budgeting: Cases of Russia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan

This comparative study uses the legacy effect of the Soviet past to explain the changes in public capital budgeting and management in the three former Soviet republics: Russian Federation, Moldova, and Uzbekistan. The main argument is that the legacy of the Soviet planning and budgeting traditions in forms of the centralized control, inadequate capital planning, and strong informal powers of political elites are embedded in the capital budgeting and management practices of the case countries. The analysis reveals that regardless of the differences in the countries’ socio-economic characteristics, political regimes, and institutional developments, the budgetary outcomes are consistently shaped by the public management principles rooted in the Soviet budgeting traditions. The study findings are significant to the field of International Public Administration, Post-Soviet Affairs, and Public Finance because they disclose the legacy effect of the Soviet practices on the implementation of public administration reforms in post-communist countries. By exploring areas in international public capital budgeting and investments, this study also attempts to address the gap identified by public finance scholars.