H. van Zon 
Political Economy of Independent Ukraine [PDF ebook] 
Captured by the Past

The Political Economy of Independent Ukraine analyses the reasons for the abysmal economic performance of Ukraine during the 1990s. The main thesis is that economic development was blocked by a set of parasitic mechanisms at all levels of the economy that prevented the development of value-added economic activities. These parasitic mechanisms already developed under Soviet rule (‘beating the system’ by redistributing goods and services while disregarding formal rules) became a widespread practice.