Chris Miller

military-industrial complex, for example, made up 10–20 percent of the Soviet economy. When defense spending was cut to just several percent of GDP—the normal amount for European countries—this pushed GDP down sharply. Yet cutting wasteful production of unnecessary rockets and tanks made Russians no worse off.

Inspectors visited businesses less to examine their operations than to threaten and collect payments in exchange for leaving the targeted firm alone. Industrial inspections varied drastically by region, with an average of 6.5 inspections per month in Krasnoyarsk but only 1.1 per month in Tver. There was no evidence that Krasnoyarsk factories were safer than Tver’s. The difference between the two provinces had less to do with factories than with inspectors, who were apparently more venal in Krasnoyarsk.36

feared that Huawei’s products were now priced so attractively, partly owing to Chinese