Architect of the 500 Days Program: perestroika economist who drafted a rapid transition from planned economy to market
During coal-mine research in the 1970s, a collapse trapped him and four workers waist-deep in ice water for ten hours. Three died in hospital after rescue. Yavlinsky later recalled: "We were saved, but three out of five died in hospital."
Soviet economist and politician from Lviv. After graduating from the Plekhanov Institute and researching coal-mine labour, he became head of the Joint Economic Department of the USSR Council of Ministers in 1989 under Leonid Abalkin. In 1990, with Mikhail Zadornov and Aleksei Mikhailov, he authored the 500 Days Program (a roadmap for transitioning from a planned to a market economy in under two years) and was appointed Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers. When Gorbachev compromised with Nikolai Ryzhkov's alternative, Yavlinsky resigned in October 1990; he founded the EPICenter think tank and later launched Yabloko in 1993, becoming a fixture of Russia's liberal opposition.
Career Timeline
- 1976–1980Researcher, All-Union Coal Industry Management Research Institute (VNIUUgol)
- 1980–1989Sector head for heavy industry → deputy head of consolidated department → head of social development and population, State Committee for Labour and Social Affairs
- 1989–1990Head, Joint Economic Department, USSR Council of Ministers
- 1990.7–11Deputy Chairman, RSFSR Council of Ministers; Chairman, State Commission for Economic Reform
- 1991.8–12Deputy Chairman, USSR Committee for Operational Management of the National Economy (vice-premier rank)
- 1991.10–12Member, Political Consultative Council under the President of the USSR
- 1990–1993Founder and director, EPICenter for Economic and Political Research
- 1993–2008Founder and leader, Yabloko party