Alya Guseva, Boston University, author of
Into the Red: The Birth of the Credit Card Market in Postcommunist Russia:
"The link between homeownership and mortgages is unquestioned in the United States; homeownership is an essential part of the American dream, and mortgages have been institutionalized as a path to become a homeowner. Jane R. Zavisca highlights the fact that this assumption is a product of a particular cultural and historical époque and does not fit contemporary Russia. Housing the New Russia is an insightful and thoroughly documented account of an attempt to create a housing market in a culture where housing is viewed as a right rather than an (overpriced) commodity. A must-read for anyone interested in the cultural foundations of emerging markets, housing policy, and the postcommunist region."
"Zavisca meticulously examines the causes and consequences of mortgage housing market failure in the new Russia.... By providing insights into the new Russian society and the challenges it faces regarding housing, population and family life, economy, stratification, and social change, Zavisca makes an important contribution to Russian studies, economics, and political sociology. Highly recommended."
Matthew Hollow, Durham University:
""[Zavisca's] work... breaks new ground by looking at why the sort of market-orientated housing policies that have come to dominate in the West despite extensive financial backing from organisations such as the USA’s Agency for International Development (USAID), proven to be so difficult to introduce into the Russian housing sector... Overall, there is much to applaud in Zavisca’s study. Her ability to effectively switch from macro-level political and economic analysis to micro-level discussions of individual Russians’ domestic arrangements is particularly impressive, as is her ability to make use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Likewise, her work must also be commended for attempting to systematically examine the relationship between housing and reproductive behaviour—an area that has received far too little attention from scholars of post-Soviet Russia... This book provides readers with a telling and multi-layered account of how and why successive have governments have found it so dif?cult to establish a market-based and mortgage-dependent housing regime in post-Soviet Russia."
Mark Stephens, Research and Policy Blog, Institute for Housing, Urban, and Real Estate Research (11 February 2013):
"Zavisca's book examines how and why the attempt to import American-style housing finance institutions failed in a system she characterises as 'property without markets.' What is strikingly refreshing about this book is the injection of sociology into a debate—and in international terms and agenda—that has been dominated by economists. Zavisca highlights the legacy of socialist tenures as one reason for a strong cultural resistance to western-style mortgages, and this helps to explain why the 'transition' country that has attempted to adopt the American system most closely has ended up with possibly the smallest mortgage market of any of these countries."
Michele Rivkin-Fish, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill author of Women's Health in Post-Soviet Russia:
"Housing the New Russia is a well-written and important book on a timely subject, the U.S.-sponsored, Russian-backed program to establish a mortgage-based housing market in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. By explaining the complex reasons Russians rejected the idea of mortgages, Jane R. Zavisca's analysis of the housing reform project offers a highly significant case study of the outcomes of American aid approaches to 'fixing’ post-Soviet societies."
Cynthia Buckley:
"In an exciting new exploration of housing in contemporary Russia, Jane R. Zavisca examines the challenges related to the emergence of the housing market in the post-Soviet period..Zavisca's well-argued and clearly presented call for greater integration of housing issues into studies of inequality, family formation, and social satisfaction is on very solid ground. This is a fine work worthy of wide readership."
"The central argument in Jane Zavisca's excellent book is that the cultural attitudes to housing derived from the Soviet period continue to have a profound impact on the contemporary housing system in Russia, and help account for the failure to 'transplant' successfully the US model of housing finance.... Zavisca brings refreshing insights into the evolution of housing policy in Russia."
Virág Molnár:
"Zavisca successfully demonstrates the complexity and richness of using housing as a measure of large-scale social change. The book is accessibly and engagingly written; even the most technical parts of the analysis are clearly communicated. It manages to speak to a wide range of audiences, including economic and cultural sociologists interested in markets, area specialists on Russia, anthropologists studying family and kinships structures, and demographers examining fertility... the book is highly recommended to all who seek to gain a better understanding of contemporary Russian society."
Olga Sezneva:
"[Understanding] mortgages in Russia, argues Jane Zavisca in her new book Housing the New Russia, is crucial not only for understanding postsocialist Russia..Housing the New Russia engages many of the standard issues in the literature on housing and offers a fresh look at them.. [It] leaves readers better informed about the established and emerging mortgage markets and more critical about the American Dream, which 'suddenly seems more fraught with moral hazard' (p. 199)."
Karl H. Flaming:
"Zavisca's focus on sociocultural factors has important theoretical implications for all housing scholars. In particular, her focus on sociocultural factors complememnts the focus by political economists on material and economic factors in planning and policy. Her research clearly demonstrates that a cultural approach furthers our udnerstanding of why mortgage markets have failed in Russia. She does not, however, ignore or deny the importance of political-economic factors.... Zavisca's book provides excellent insights into the history of the failed attempted transformation of Russian housing from a state controlled to market."
