Before Development Economics: Western Political Economy, the “Russian Case,” and the First Perceptions of Economic Backwardness (From the 1760s Until the Mid-Nineteenth Century)

Abstract

Before the emergence of the field of development economics in the mid-1940s, the mainstream of Western economists had very little to say about the world outside western Europe. However, perhaps due to Russia’s ambivalent location as a nation considered not fully European (nor completely Asiatic) and to her status as a major player in the international arena despite the fact of her modest economic achievements, from the eighteenth century onwards the “Russian case” called the attention of some of the most prominent Western minds, including the first economists. By discussing Russia’s economy, they came to notions and concepts regarding development and backwardness that, to a great extent. informed the twentieth-century debate. The aim of this article is to explore the way in which Russia as a case study affected the evolution of ideas on economic growth or development. The evidence of things Russian, it will be argued, raised doubts about common economic views, thus enabling new thinking that pointed either to criticism of liberal orthodoxy, or to expansion and refinement of its arguments.

Development Economics and the “Russian Case”: The Impact of Russia’s Realities and Thinkers in the Mid-Twentieth-Century Debate on Economic Development

“…Abalkin, Russian Academy of Sciences. However, the evidence presented in this article and in Adamovsky (2010) suggests that Russia's historical experience did provide at least an important standpoint-both for natives and for Westerners-from which to think and rethink the meaning of economic development. The distinguishing features of such a school, according to the author, would be, among others, the ''systematic analysis of economic phenomena,'' the refusal to consider the ''economic person'' in isolation from society and from its habitat, the importance granted to the State as an economic agent, the attention paid to the issue of national self-determination, and, of course, the interest in the ''agrarian question'' and in the methods to resolve it.…”

“…As I have argued elsewhere, Russia's early efforts to modernize its socio-economic structure from the times of Peter the Great onwards provided a fascinating ''case study'' for the first Western economists who tried to understand economic development and to provide ideas on how to overcome backwardness (Adamovsky 2010). Some of the University of Buenos Aires/CONICET.…”

“…As with all paradoxes, Russia's awkward presence was good for thinking (see Adamovsky 2010). These ''unorthodox'' economic views also used the analysis of Russia's reality or the results of Russia's economic policies to put forward some of their main ideas: 8) The concept that there is a national dimension to economics that cannot be assimilated to the interests of individuals or of humankind as a whole.…”

“…As I have argued elsewhere, Russia’s early efforts to modernize its socio-economic structure from the times of Peter the Great onwards provided a fascinating “case study” for the first Western economists who tried to understand economic development and to provide ideas on how to overcome backwardness (Adamovsky 2010). Some of the leading philosophers and economists of the second half of the eighteenth century and of the nineteenth century alike made use of the “Russian case” to reflect on these matters, and, to some extent, also benefited from observations and ideas in this regard presented by a few Russian authors.…”

2017 Hes Presidential Address: Economists and Their Travels, or the Time When JFK Sent Douglass North on a Mission to Brazil

“…He criticized the huge gap observed between the rich nobility and poor servant peasants, and found necessary the creation of a “third estate” in between. Diderot eventually gave up his view of civilization as a result of an enlightened despot or the ideas of a philosopher, and came to see it as the product of a long process of development (Adamowsky 2010, pp. 252–253).…”