Bear Traps on Russia's Road to Modernization

Innovation in Russia: The Territorial Dimension

“…Motova and Pykkö (2012: 27) emphasize that enrolment mostly grew in economics, law and the humanities, "which did not require too much investment in material resources, but were considered highly prestigious by society". Stressing instead institutional continuity, Gaddy and Ickes (2013) and Cooper (2006) The first part of our analysis revealed that 'global pipelines' play a key role, potentially allowing regions to overcome disadvantages associated with the spatial dispersion and relative isolation of Russia's innovation hubs. The second part focuses on inter-regional knowledge flows or spillovers within Russia.…”

“…Russia's spatial distribution of capital and labour still reflects central planners' decisions that often ignored transport costs, agglomeration economies, and climatic conditions (Gaddy and Ickes, 2013). The inefficient location of factors of production is likely to slow down economic transactions and knowledge diffusion.…”

“…The debate about this "Russian innovation paradox" (Gianella and Tompson, 2007) has focussed on national-level institutional factors: weak linkages (Klochikhin, 2012), inadequate intellectual property rights protection (Aleksashenko, 2012), insufficient evaluation of public R&D spending (Graham and Dezhina, 2008), degradation of human capital (Gaddy and Ickes, 2013) and negative effects of natural resource abundance (EBRD, 2012). Several authors compare Russia's performance with China's and India's (Cooper, 2006;Klochikhin, 2013).…”

Barrels and bullets: The geostrategic significance of Russia’s oil and gas exports

“…In 2014, annual real GDP growth fell to just 0.6%, down from 1.3% in 2013, and around 4% in 2012. This slowdown was likely driven by a combination of many factors, including a shrinking labor force, the slowdown in growth of government and consumer spending, and, perhaps most important, a low and declining share of investment in economic activity (Connolly 2011;Gaddy and Ickes 2014). Consequently, when oil prices plummeted, an economy that was already buffeted by the combination of Western sanctions and a homegrown structural slowdown plunged into recession, with GDP estimated to have contracted by 3.7% in 2015.…”

Russia’s Natural Resources in the World Economy: history, review and reassessment

“…These natural resources play a slightly different role in Russia's export economy compared to that of the Soviet Union for several reasons. First, the dismantling of the centrally planned economy led to a sharp reduction in domestic demand for minerals that were used for the production of metals, which played an important role in supporting an economy that was both "hyper militarized" and suffered from excess investment (Gaddy 1996;Gaddy and Ickes 2013). The subsequent reduction in defense spending and resource-intensive investment caused a slump in domestic demand for minerals, which in turn meant that these sectors became more dependent on global export markets (Fortescue 2013, 410).…”