Professors Earle and Gehlbach (Letters, 27 December) continue their criticisms of our Lancet paper that showed an association between the depth and speed of mass privatisation in the former Soviet Union and mortality. Unfortunately, they fail to note that we have comprehensively responded to these criticisms in the Lancet, noting how they approach the evidence selectively, make numerous unjustified assumptions, and fail to offer any plausible alternative explanation for the enormous toll of death in this region in the 1990s.

They also fail to mention their extensive involvement in the privatisation process.
Professor Martin McKee
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Dr Lawrence King
Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Dr David Stuckler
Magdelene College, University of Cambridge

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