Although arrears are a symptom of these underlying problems, Rosenblum argued that this issue deserves to be analyz ed separately, due to the negative political and economic consequences. Under economic liberalization, prices were freed which resulted in huge price inflation, wage inflation, and a shortage in cash. When looking at the roots of this problem, Rosenblum noted, it is interesting to look at what people believe to be the cause because the perception of the problem will often influence what solutions are chosen. Employers say they cannot pay employees because they cannot find customers to buy their products, cannot sell their products, or are not paid for delivered goods. Governments say they are not paying employees or providing allocated subsidies to industry because of low tax collection and failure to collect projected revenues.
Governments also argue that corruption or incompetent management is causing the non-payment.
Finally, employees say that corruption is the cause. They think that the money for wages is there, but that it is stolen by corrupt bureaucrats or managers. All these explanations are correct to one degree or another, which adds to the complexity. Corruption is a cause of some non-payment. In a Kazakh lead kombinat , it was discovered that while workers had not been paid for 9-12 months, top managers of the kombinat had received six months salary in advance and had invested enterprise funds in various other ventures.