Russia's Economic Transitions : From Late Tsarism to the New Millennium

Russia's Economic Transitions examines the three major transformations that the country underwent from the early 1860s to 2000. The first transition, under Tsarism, involved the partial break-up of the feudal framework of land ownership and the move toward capitalist relations. The second, following the Communist revolution of 1917, brought to power a system of state ownership and administration - a sui generis type of war-economy state capitalism - subjecting the economy's development to central commands. The third, started in the early 1990s and still unfolding, is aiming at reshaping the inherited economic fabric on the basis of private ownership. The three transitions originated within different settings, but with a similar primary goal, namely the changing of the economy's ownership pattern in the hopes of providing a better basis for subsequent development. The treatment's originality, impartiality and historical breadth have cogent economic, social and political relevance. Pt. 1. The Tsarist Economic Transition. State Economy And Society : The Socioeconomic Framework -- The Transition Issues -- The Economic Policies -- Sectoral Growth And Change : The Problem Of Agriculture -- The Industrial Changes -- Domestic And Foreign Trade -- Social Accounting : Money And Banking -- State Finance -- Overall View -- Pt. 2. The Soviet Economic Transition. State Economy And Society : The Socioeconomic Framework -- The Transition Issues -- The Economic Policies -- Sectoral Growth And Change : The Problems Of Agriculture -- The Industrial Changes -- Domestic And Foreign Trade -- Social Accounting : Money And Banking -- State Finance -- Overall View -- Pt. 3. The Post-soviet Economic Transition. State Economy And Society : The Socioeconomic Framework -- The Transition Issues -- The Economic Policies -- Sectoral Growth And Change: The Problems Of Agriculture -- The Industrial Changes -- Domestic And Foreign Trade -- Social Accounting : Money And Banking -- State Finance -- Overall Views. Nicolas Spulber. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book is concerned with Russia's economic transition from a predominantly feudal economy to a capitalist economy; from an economy based on private ownership, to one based exclusively on state ownership, and finally, from the latter back to private ownership and market-directed relations. These transitions have generated much thought not only in economics, but in history, political science and sociology. Current research in economic transition is commanding great interest; as it reviews methods and outcomes of privatization, along with a variety of problems in economic growth, industrial organization, public economics, international finance and monetary economics. The humiliating defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean War (1853-6) by an Anglo-French expeditionary force of only seventy thousand men assisting Turkey, the "sick man of Europe," revealed clearly the Russian incompetence at the highest political and military levels, the inferiority of the quality of Russia's armaments, the absence of an adequate system of transportation for moving troops on her own territory, and Russia's overall backwardness. Spulber examines the three major economic transformations that Russia has undergone from the early 1860s until 2000. Each originated within different socio-economic settings, but have shared the primary goal of changing the ownership pattern within the economy