A History of Russian Economic Thought

A History of Russian Economic Thought
Author: Vincent Barnett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2013-03-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134261918

The collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic at the end of the 1980’s was conceived as a victory for capitalist democracy. Here, Vincent Barnett provides the first comprehensive account of the historical development of Russian and Soviet economic thought across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and considers its future in the twenty-first century. Utilizing an extensive range of historical sources, Barnett examines the different strands of thought, including classical, neoclassical, historical, socialist, liberal and Marxian schools. He traces their influence, and the impact their ideas had on shaping policies. An excellent addition to the Routledge History of Economic Thought series, this book covers pre-1870, Tsarist economics, the late Tsarist period, the impact of the war, Bolshevik economics, Stalinist economics, Russian economics after 1940. Incorporating a detailed timeline of the most significant Russian economists work and analyzing the effects of historical discontinuities on the institutional structure of Russian economics as a discipline, Barnett delivers an essential text for postgraduates and professionals interested in economic history and the evolution of Russian economic thought.

Russian and Western Economic Thought

Russian and Western Economic Thought
Author: Vladimir Avtonomov
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2022-10-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030990524

This book examines the interrelations between Russian and European economics from the early 19th century to the present. It analyzes how Western economic thinking, such as classical economics and the marginal revolution, influenced Russian economic thinking and how Western economic ideas were modified and adapted to better reflect the specific Russian circumstances of the time. Moreover, the contributions in this book show how these modified ideas also influenced Western economists at the end of the 19th century, when Russian economics had reached the stage of professionalism and joined the international discourse on the discipline. Written by an international selection of respected experts, this book provides an overview of the most influential Russian economists and covers a wide range of topics such as the marginal revolution, the specific influence of Marxism, the evolution of mathematics and statistics in Russia in the 1890s–1920s, and the unique experience of building a planned economy in the Soviet Union. It is intended for all scholars and students who are interested in the history of economic thought.

When Ideas Fail

When Ideas Fail
Author: Joachim Zweynert
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2017-11-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351363832

In the history of Russian economic ideas, a peculiar mix of anthropocentrism and holism provided fertile breeding ground for patterns of thought that were in potential conflict with the market. These patterns, did not render the emergence of capitalism in Russia impossible. But they entailed a deep intellectual division between adherents and opponents of Russia’s capitalist transformation that made Russia’s social evolution unstable and vulnerable to external shocks. This study offers an ideational explanation of Russia’s relative failure to establish a functioning market economy and thus sets up a new and original perspective for discussion. In post-Soviet Russia, a clash between imported foreground ideas and deep domestic background ideas has led to an ideational division among the elite of the country. Within economic science, this led to the emergence of two thought collectives, (in the sense of Ludvik Fleck), with entirely different understandings of social reality. This ideational division translated into incoherent policy measures, the emergence of institutional hybrids and thus, all in all, into institutional instability. Empirically, the book is based on a systematic, qualitative analysis of the writings of Soviet/Russian economists between 1987 and 2012. This groundbreaking book makes an important contribution to Central Eastern and Eastern European area studies and to the current debate on ideas and institutions in the social sciences.

Philosophy of Economy

Philosophy of Economy
Author: Sergei Bulgakov
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2008-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0300132859

The writings of Sergei Bulgakov (1871–1944), like those of other major social thinkers of Russia’s Silver Age, were obliterated from public consciousness under Soviet rule. Discovered again after eighty years of silence, Bulgakov’s work speaks with remarkable directness to the postmodern listener. This outstanding translation of Philosophy of Economy brings to English-language speakers for the first time a major work of social theory written by a critical figure in the Russian tradition of liberal thought. What is unique about Bulgakov, Catherine Evtuhov explains in her introduction to this book, is that he bridges two worlds. His social thought is firmly based in the Western tradition, yet some of his ideas reflect a specifically Russian way of thinking about society. Though arguing strenuously in favor of political and social liberty, Bulgakov repudiates the individualistic basis of Western liberalism in favor of a conception of human dignity that is compatible with collectivity. His economic theory stresses the spiritual content of life in the world and imagines national life as a kind of giant household. Bulgakov’s work, with its singularly postmodern balance between Western and non-Western, offers fascinating implications for those in the process of reevaluating ideologies in post-Soviet Russia and in America as well.

The Oxford Handbook of the Russian Economy

The Oxford Handbook of the Russian Economy
Author: Michael Alexeev
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 864
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199344132

By 1999, Russia's economy was growing at almost 7% per year, and by 2008 reached 11th place in the world GDP rankings. Russia is now the world's second largest producer and exporter of oil, the largest producer and exporter of natural gas, and as a result has the third largest stock of foreign exchange reserves in the world, behind only China and Japan. But while this impressive economic growth has raised the average standard of living and put a number of wealthy Russians on the Forbes billionaires list, it has failed to solve the country's deep economic and social problems inherited from the Soviet times. Russia continues to suffer from a distorted economic structure, with its low labor productivity, heavy reliance on natural resource extraction, low life expectancy, high income inequality, and weak institutions. While a voluminous amount of literature has studied various individual aspects of the Russian economy, in the West there has been no comprehensive and systematic analysis of the socialist legacies, the current state, and future prospects of the Russian economy gathered in one book. The Oxford Handbook of the Russian Economy fills this gap by offering a broad range of topics written by the best Western and Russian scholars of the Russian economy. While the book's focus is the current state of the Russian economy, the first part of the book also addresses the legacy of the Soviet command economy and offers an analysis of institutional aspects of Russia's economic development over the last decade. The second part covers the most important sectors of the economy. The third part examines the economic challenges created by the gigantic magnitude of regional, geographic, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity of Russia. The fourth part covers various social issues, including health, education, and demographic challenges. It will also examine broad policy challenges, including the tax system, rule of law, as well as corruption and the underground economy. Michael Alexeev and Shlomo Weber provide for the first time in one volume a complete, well-rounded, and essential look at the complex, emerging Russian economy.

Russian Economic History

Russian Economic History
Author: Arcadius Kahan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 1989-01-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226422437

Upon the foundation of his unique experience and education, the late Arcadius Kahan (1920-1982) built a substantial body of scholarship on all aspects of the tsarist economy. Yet some of his important contribution might well have been dissipated were it not for this collection, since many of these essays were often available only in isolated, obscure sources. This posthumous volume makes readily available for the first time ten of Kahan's essays, nine previously published in English and one in German, which serve to integrate his carefully developed picture of nineteenth-century Russian economic history. Kahan's remarkable vision forms a complement to the thought of Gerschenkron, and this volume is certain to become a valuable source for scholars and students of Russian and European economic and social history.

Political Events and Economic Ideas

Political Events and Economic Ideas
Author: Ingo Barens
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781845421526

The influence of political developments on the evolution of economic thought is the main theme behind this book. As the authors reveal throughout the book, history has shown many times that political events can trigger the formulation of new economic conceptions that in turn influence the future economic development of a country. The papers are arranged into five main areas of interest: monetary theory and policy economic crisis in France and the emergence of the physiocratic school the co-evolution of political ideas and economic thought in different countries and periods in Europe continuity and discontinuity in Russian economic thought attempted economic solutions to the problems posed by the Great Depression and the associated political transformation. Political Events and Economic Ideas will hold great appeal and interest for researchers and scholars of political thought, as well as historians of economic thought worldwide.

Mixed Fortunes

Mixed Fortunes
Author: Vladimir Popov
Publisher:
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2014-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0198703635

The rise of the West is often attributed the presence of certain features in Western countries from the 16th century that were absent in more traditional societies: the abolition of serfdom and Protestant ethics, the protection of property rights, and free universities. The problem with this reasoning is that, before the 16th century, there were many countries with social structures that possessed these same features that didn't experience rapid productivity growth. This book offers a new interpretation of the 'Great Divergence' and 'Great Convergence' stories. It explores how Western countries grew rich and why parts of the developing world (South and East Asia and the Middle East) did not catch up with the West from 1500 to 1950 but began to narrow the gap after 1950. It also examines why others (Latin America, South Africa, and Russia) were more successful at catching up from 1500 to 1950, but then experienced a slowdown in economic growth compared to other developing countries. Mixed Fortunes offers a novel interpretation of the rise of the West and of the subsequent development of 'the rest' and China and Russia, important examples of two groups of developing countries, are examined in greater detail.

Economic Thought

Economic Thought
Author: Heinz D. Kurz
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2016-05-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0231540752

In this concise yet comprehensive history, Heinz D. Kurz traces the long arc of economic thought from its emergence in ancient Greece to its systematic presentation among the classical thinkers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to the influential work of scholars such as Paul Samuelson and Kenneth J. Arrow. With a keen eye for how economic insights are acquired, lost, and reborn, Kurz focuses on the dynamic individuals who give old ideas new life and the historical events that provoke different approaches and theories. Over the course of this journey, Kurz explains what Adam Smith meant by the "invisible hand"; how Karl Marx's "law of motion" works in capitalist economies; the roots of the Austrian economists' emphasis on the problems of information, incomplete knowledge, and uncertainty; John Maynard Keynes's principle of effective demand and economic stabilization; and the insights and challenges offered by growth theory, welfare economics, game theory, and more. He concludes with a deft summation of world economists' major concerns today and their critical relation to world events.