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.
Author(s): Vladimir Avtonomov, Harald Hagemann
Series: Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 453
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
Editors and Contributors
The Transfer of Economic Ideas Between Russia and the West: An Introduction
1 General Historical Relations of Russia and the West: A Brief Summary
2 The Interrelations of Western and Russian Economic Thought as a Controversial Issue
3 The Factors Causing Modification of Western Theories by Russian Economists
3.1 Moral/Religious Factors
3.2 The Peasant Question
3.3 Marxism and Socialism in Russia
3.4 Mathematics and Statistics in Russia
3.5 Designing and Building a Planned Economy
4 Transmission Mechanisms and Mutual Influences
References
West-Russia-West: Early Interaction in Economic Thought. Cases of Storch and Chernyshevsky
1 Smith–Storch–List
2 Haxthausen–Chernyshevsky–Marx
References
Tugan-Baranovsky and the West
1 Introduction
2 The West as a Source of Inspiration
3 The Reception of Industrial Crises in Contemporary England
4 The Reception of Theoretical Foundations of Marxism
References
The Circular Flow of Ideas: Vladimir K. Dmitriev
1 Introduction
2 Dmitriev’s Economic Essays
3 Western Sources and Influences
4 Russian Influences on Dmitriev’s Ideas: The Role of the Economic Discourse in Russia
5 On the Reception of Dmitriev’s Contributions in Russia
6 The Reception of Dmitriev’s Writings in the West
7 Concluding Remarks
References
Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz: Traveller Between Worlds
1 Introduction
2 Bortkiewicz’s Life and Academic Career
3 Bortkiewicz’s Work in Economic Theory
4 The Reception of Bortkiewicz’s Contributions in Russia and Germany
5 Concluding Remarks
References
Peter B. Struve as Economist: Philosophical Foundations of Economics and Development Theory
1 Peter Struve as Intellectual Figure
2 Peter Struve and His Formation as Economist
3 Marxism and the Theory of Economic Development
4 The Impact of the Dispute with the Narodnik’s on Struve’s Economic Thinking
5 Struve’s Fundamental Concept of Economic Reasoning
6 Parallel Concepts of Universalism: Karl Pribram and Othmar Spann
6.1 Pribram’s Anti-Universalist Liberalism
6.2 Spann’s Version of Universalism
6.3 Disentangling the Issues
7 Struve on Price, Value and Money
8 Essays on Central Concepts of Economics: Gleichgewicht, “Wirtschaft”
9 “Ideal Types” Versus Positivism
10 Conclusions, Struve’s Heritage
References
Bazarov, Bogdanov, and the West
1 Introduction
2 West-Russia. The Search for the Methodological Objectivity
2.1 Context
2.2 Empiriocriticism of Mach and Avenarius
2.3 Reception by Bogdanov
2.4 Reception by Bazarov
3 Russia-West: Scattered Evidence
4 Concluding Remarks
References
Lenin’s Development Economics: An Outline
1 Introduction
2 Lenin’s Early Development Studies in Context
3 Two Scenarios for Russia’s Economic Development
4 From Russian to Global Capitalism
5 Conclusions
References
Russia-West-Russia: Georg von Charasoff, the “Humane Economy”, and the Critique of Marx’s Theory of History
1 Introduction
2 From Russia to the West: Charasoff’s Life and Some Formative Elements of His Work
3 Charasoff’s Innovative Concepts and Original Findings
4 Situating Charasoff’s Contributions in the Contemporary Economic Discourse
5 Contemporary Reactions
6 Charasoff’s Return to Russia and His Lectures on Political Economy
7 On the Further Reception of Charasoff’s Contributions in the West
8 The (Re-)Discovery of Charasoff’s Contributions in the 1980s
9 Concluding Remarks
References
Eugen (Evgeny Evgenievich) Slutsky
1 On Slutsky's ``Influence''
2 A Short Bio of Slutsky: Economics Under Political Pressure
3 Slutsky's 1915 Contribution to the Theory of the Consumer
4 Reception and Importance of the 1915 Article
5 Slutsky's 1927/1937 Contribution to the Theory of Random Fluctuations
6 Reception and Importance of the 1927/1937 Article
6.1 Summation Between 1927 and 1937: ``Spurious Correlations'' Versus ``Inverted Inference''
6.2 From 1937 to Lucas
7 Slutsky's Other Contributions: Recharting Economic Ontology
8 Conclusion
References
Feldman and the Strategy for Economic Growth
1 Introduction
2 Feldman’s Soviet Model of Economic Growth
3 Structural Analysis of a Growing Economy: The Three-Sectoral Lowe–Dobb Model
4 Concluding Remarks
References
Chayanov: The Reception of an Early Soviet Agricultural Economist
1 Biography
1.1 Background
1.2 Policy Debates
2 The Theory of Peasant Economy
3 Chayanov’s Reception
3.1 In Russia: The 1920s
3.2 Abroad: World War I and After
3.3 Abroad: The 1960s–1980s
3.4 Management Studies
3.5 Development Theory
3.6 Conclusion: Chayanov in Russia from the 1990s
References
N. D. Kondratiev and a New Methodological Agenda for Economics
1 The New Methodological Agenda: Origins and Interpretation
2 The Methodological Agenda and the Problem of Cycle
3 A Difficult Road to the “Methodological Alliance”
4 The General Theory of Dynamics in the Context of the New Methodological Agenda
5 Conclusion
References
Jacob Marschak 1898–1977: From a Russian Revolutionist to President-Elect of the American Economic Association
1 An Active Menshevik in Revolutionary Russia
2 The Formation of a young Economist in Weimar Germany 1919–1933
3 At Oxford from 1933 to 1938
4 Marschak in the USA
5 Conclusion
References
Simon Kuznets and Russia: An Uneasy Relationship
1 From Pinsk to Columbia
1.1 University—Commercial Institute
1.2 Courses and Teachers
1.3 Statistical Office and First Paper
1.4 Exit—Leaving Russia
1.5 Columbia
2 Some Contributions
2.1 Cycles
2.2 National Income and Capital Formation
2.3 The Economic Growth of Nations Project
3 Acquaintance with Russian Economists
3.1 Acquaintance Travels and Contacts
3.2 Did He Know Any of Them?
4 Interest in Russian Economics
4.1 Statistics and Revealing Early Book Reviews
4.2 Conferences
5 Russian Influence on the Growth Study
5.1 Industrialization Debate
5.2 Déjà Vu at the War Production Board?
5.3 Russia in (or is It Out?) the Modern Economic Growth Study
6 Heritage
6.1 Jewish Heritage
6.2 Research on Jewish Economics
7 Reciprocal Influence?
References
Alexander Gerschenkron
1 An Odyssey
1.1 Russia
1.2 Austria
1.3 The USA
2 Science
2.1 The Gerschenkron Effect
2.2 Advantages of Economic Backwardness
2.3 Russia and Europe
2.4 Time Horizon
3 Conclusion
References
Wassily Leontief and His German Period
1 Introduction
2 Leontief’s “German” Biography
3 The Economy as a Circular Flow
4 Technical Progress and Unemployment
5 Statistical Supply and Demand Analysis
6 Concluding Remarks
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
References
Paul Baran
1 Introduction
2 Paul Alexander Baran
3 Evgeny Preobrazhensky
4 Baran on the Economics of Development
5 Baran and Sweezy on Monopoly Capital
6 A Critical Appraisal
References
Evsey Domar and Russia
1 Domar’s Russian Heritage
2 The Varga Controversy, Soviet Economics and Underconsumption
3 Feldman, Preobrazhensky and Economic Development
4 Tugan-Baranovsky, Cooperatives and Incentives Under Socialism
5 Russian Serfdom and Factor Endowments
6 Domar’s Soviet Readers
References
Leoinid Kantorovich
1 Introduction
2 A Case of Independent Discoveries
3 Kantorovich and the Soviet Economy 1937–41
4 Developments in the USSR 1942–58
5 Developments in the USA 1947‒1956
6 Developments in the USSR 1959‒1991
6.1 Linear Programming and Ideology in the USSR
7 Developments in the USA from 1957
7.1 Linear Programming and Ideology in the USA
8 Interaction Between the USSR and USA
9 Conclusion
References
Index
