title: On the formation of the phenomenon of the economic lag of Russia in the first half of the 19th century
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Nefedov, Sergey A.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2021-11-03T10:03:32Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2021-11-03T10:03:32Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2021-09
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Nefedov S. A. (2021) On the formation of the phenomenon of the economic lag of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. St Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies, vol. 37, iss. 3, pp. 489–509.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu05.2021.306
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/33414
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: The article is devoted to the analysis of the reasons for Russia’s economic lagging behind during
  the Great Divergence. The author tests the well-known hypotheses that industrial development
  was hampered by the opposition of the nobility and the cheap labor of serfs. Upon closer
  examination, these assumptions are not confirmed. The economic lag was primarily due to the
  lag in railway construction, which in the 19th century was the main driver of the development
  of heavy industry. The article analyzes the policy in the field of railway construction during
  the reign of Emperor Nicholas I (1825–1855). It is shown that the formation of this policy took
  place in a conflict between the emperor and the ministerial bureaucracy, headed by the Minister
  of Finance, Count Kankrin. While Nicholas I was guided by military-strategic considerations,
  the ministers proceeded from economic interests. Economic calculations pointed to the
  unprofitability of railways compared to transportation by waterways. The technical conservatism
  of the bureaucracy did not allow adequately assessing the prospects for new technology
  and the possibility of reducing the cost of transportation in the future. The article analyzes the
  difference between economic policy in Russia and in England, the United States, France and
  Germany, which led to the lag of Russia. In the West (with the exception of France), economic
  policy developed spontaneously on the basis of private initiative. The Russian bureaucracy
  blocked private initiative, it sought to preserve the capital stored in state banks to finance the
  great power politic. On the other hand, the railroad “mania” in England was accompanied by
  a speculative boom and the ruin of many railroad companies. For the Russian bureaucracy,
  this was another argument in favor of refusing to attract private capital. Meanwhile, “mania”
  promoted the mobilization of capital from small shareholders for railway construction and
  spurred the development of industry. Another way of using controlled private initiative was
  possible, which was implemented in France in the “Legrand project”. But the Russian bureaucracy
  refused to use private initiative, which doomed the country to an economic lag.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: ru
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: St Petersburg University Journal of Economic Studies;Volume 37; Issue 3
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: economic policy
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: causes of economic lag
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: railway construction
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: bureaucracy
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: blocking of private initiative
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: On the formation of the phenomenon of the economic lag of Russia in the first half of the 19th century
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 489-509.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/33414/1/489-509.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 689,85 kB