Episode II: The Agony of Reform

Chapter 1: Prologue

• A perilous interdependence
• The capitalist revolution
• Title sequence

Chapter 2: The Ghosts of Norilsk

• Slow trains to Siberia
• The gulag economy
• The essence of Soviet power
• Socialism's influence

Chapter 3: Behind the Iron Façade

• A double agent escapes
• What Gordievsky knew
• The true cost of military might
• No water, no fire, no incentives

Chapter 4: India's Permit Raj

• Central planning and corruption
• Protection vs. innovation
• The shortage economy
• Hindustan vs. Toyota

Chapter 5: Latin American Dependencia

• A shared suspicion of trade
• Doomed to underdevelopment?
• Dependency theory explained
• The cost of closed markets

Chapter 6: Counterrevolution in Chile

• The left wins an election
• The Allende is assassinated
• An economy doesn't obey orders
• Seeking a serious blueprint

Chapter 7: Chicago Boys and Pinochet

• What Chicago stood for
• Cutting the tail off the dog
• Growth at a high human price
• A tainted legacy

Chapter 8: Heresy in the USSR

• A campfire conspiracy
• Enter Gorbachev
• The pantyhose commission
• New pressure from the West

Chapter 9: Poland's Solidarity

• Thatcher's demand
• The shipyards of Gdansk
• A longing for freedom
• The crucial meeting

Chapter 10: Bolivia at the Brink

• Coups and hyperinflation
• Bolivia confronts the tiger
• Unreasonable amounts of money
• Cocktails in La Paz

Chapter 11: Shock Therapy Applied

• The bad news all at once
• Common economic sense
• The effect on Latin America
• We did it in a democracy

Chapter 12: The Miracle Year

• Poland in crisis
• A phone call ends the Cold War
• Extraordinary politics
• Watching the price of eggs

Chapter 13: Poland in Transition

• Privatizing state industries
• Solidarity loses support
• The hardest hit had helped most
• Poland's entrepreneurial drive

Chapter 14: Gorbachev Tries China

• Yavlinsky's report
• Gorbachev hesitates
• Visiting Deng Xiaoping
• No easy way out

Chapter 15: Soviet Free Fall

• Hard-liners strike back
• The Soviet Union disintegrates
• No one at the controls
• The boys in pink shorts

Chapter 16: Reform Goes Awry

• Jump-starting the market
• The old guard fuels inflation
• Norilsk in despair
• Belief undermined

Chapter 17: India Escapes Collapse

• Watching Russia go down
• Bankruptcy ahead
• Turning against the party
• Ending the Permit Raj

Chapter 18: Russia Tries to Privatize

• Voucher capitalism
• Bolshevik biscuits
• Gaidar sacrificed
• The Wild East

Chapter 19: Loans For Shares

• Up against the Red Directors
• Filatov of Norilsk
• Fighting a Communist comeback
• Yeltsin and the oligarchs

Chapter 20: Closing the Deal

• This way or nothing?
• Potanin takes Norilsk
• Responsibility comes later
• Russia defaults; Yeltsin resigns

Chapter 21: A Decade of Radical Change

• Poland begins to thrive
• Mixed results in Latin America
• India's new growth
• Russia moves forward