One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2007 "Professor Pomfret has produced a much needed systematic account of the contemporary economies of Central Asia."
Albrecht Rothacher, American Economic Journal "This comprehensive, fact-filled study of post-Soviet Central Asia ... offers significant insights into these countries' different degrees of dependency on natural resource exploitation (e.g., oil and gas) and agricultural products (e.g., cotton) ... Read morefor integration into the global economy and for long-term economic prosperity. In the process, Pomfret carefully examines varying achievements in political transformation; ethic tensions within and between these countries; past and prospective future economic relations with Russia, China, and other neighboring nations; and numerous, but only partially successful, attempts at creating cooperative arrangements for Central Asian economic integration... Highly recommended."
Choice "There are few comprehensive accounts of economic change in Central Asia and this is a welcome addition. The book also offers interesting interpretations for these countries' individual trajectories and focuses on the key dilemmas that each country faces."
Sally N. Cummings, Slavic Review "Richard Pomfret has produced a much needed systematic account of the contemporary economies of Central Asia. Five chapters offer individual country reports, ranging from oil-rich Kazakhstan to war ravished, impoverished Tajikistan. The volume also analyses their relative economic performances; household data identifying winners and losers of the transition; the role of essential natural resources in the region; as well as their regional and global trade patterns and policies; and their
very mixed
record of regional cooperation."
Albrecht Rothacher, Europe Asia Studies "Richard Pomfret's book stands out as a highly professional, thoughtful, and balanced study of the economic performance of five countries of the region (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) without soundbites or the excessive dramatization that unfortunately accompanies such writing on Central Asia."
Rein Mullerson, International History Review "This book is a must read on Central Asian economies written by one of the few experts of the economies of the region."
Gael Raballand, Central Eurasian Reader "The Central Asian Economies Since Independence is the most reliable and comprehensive treatment of economic and public policy issues in Central Asia. It will be of value to the theoretically oriented scholar and to the practically oriented practitioner alike."
Gregory Gleason, The Russian Review Show Less