This book is an accessible and authoritative analysis of the widespread use of barter in the countries of the former Soviet Union—one of the most dramatic, but least understood, aspects of the region's tortuous transition from planned to market economy. Written by a distinguished team of economists and other social scientists with minimal use of mathematics, the book is designed to appeal not just to area studies scholars with an interest in the transition process but also to economists and anthropologists interested in the role of money and social networks in modern societies.