This paper is a reply to Barry Ickes' critique of my paper "Trust versus Illusion: What is Driving Demonetization in … Russia?" in which I show that the data reject Barry Ickes' Virtual Economy explanation of barter in Russia in favor of an … institutional explanation based on the lack of trust. …

The virtual economy argument for Russia suggests that barter allows the parties to pretend that the manufacturing … alternative explanation which sees this pricing behavior as a mechanism to deal with the absence of trust and financial discipline …

. This paper confronts with empirical evidence two approaches to explain barter in Russia: the 'illusion view' and the 'trust … Russia is producing value added by enabling this sector to sell its output at a higher price than its market value. The … 'trust view' sees barter as an institution to deal with the absence of trust and liquidity in the Russian economy. We …

Review of the book by David Woodruff on proliferation of barter, non-payments and money substitutes in Russia in the …