Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T23:18:27.396Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

BEFORE DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: WESTERN POLITICAL ECONOMY, THE “RUSSIAN CASE,” AND THE FIRST PERCEPTIONS OF ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS (FROM THE 1760S UNTIL THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2010

EZEQUIEL ADAMOVSKY
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 349 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adamovsky, Ezequiel. 2000. “N.F. Daniel’son dans l’histoire de la pensée politique russe. Le commencement oublié d’une réflexion marxiste sur le retard economique.” Revue des études slaves LXXII (1–2): 143–62.Google Scholar
Adamovsky, Ezequiel. 2003. “Russia as a Space of Hope: Nineteenth-Century French Challenges to the Liberal Image of Russia.” European History Quarterly 33 (4): 411–449.Google Scholar
Adamovsky, Ezequiel. 2006. Euro-Orientalism: Liberal Ideology and the Image of Russia in France, c. 1740–1880. Oxford: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Alcalde, Javier G. 1987. The Idea of Third World Development: Emerging Perspectives in the United States and Britain, 1900–1950. Lanham and London: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Arndt, H. D. 1987. Economic Development: The History of an Idea. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Barante, Prosper de. 1875. Notes sur la Russie 1835–1840. Paris.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. 1878. “Les finances russes.” l’Économiste Français 4 (26 January): 97–100.Google Scholar
Barnett, Vincent. 2009. Marx. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Barnett, Vincent and Zweynert, J., eds. 2008. Economics in Russia: Studies in Intellectual History. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Beaumont, Gustave de. 1854. “La Russie et les États-Unis sous le rapport économique.” Revue des Deux Mondes (March): 1163–1183.Google Scholar
Belly, Félix. 1873. “La Russie contemporaine.” l’Economiste Français 11 (28 June): 283–285.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy 1843. “A Manual of Political Economy.” In The Works of Jeremy Bentham. Edinburgh: William Tait, pp. 31–84.Google Scholar
Bentham, Jeremy. 1864. Theory of Legislation. London: Trübner.Google Scholar
Bérard-Varagnac, . 1878. “L’Exposition Universelle: La Russie.” l’Économiste Français 37 (14 Sept.): 327–329.Google Scholar
Bouchard, Julie. 2008. Comment le retard vient aux Français. Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braet, Johan. 1989. “Gustave de Molinari: Liberale kritiek op de hervormingsplannen van tsaar Aleksander II (1860).” In Stols, E. and Waegemans, E., eds., Montagne Russe: Belevenissen van Belgen in Rusland. Berchem: EPO, pp. 29–41.Google Scholar
Coquelin, and Guillaumin, , eds. 1852. Dictionnaire d’économie politique. 2 volumes. Paris: Guillaumin.Google Scholar
Courcelle-Seneuil, . 1860. “Y a-t-il des produits immatériels?” Journal des Économistes 25: 1–12.Google Scholar
Cowen, M. P. and Shenton, R. W.. 1996. Doctrines of Development. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dalum, Bent et al. . 1999. “Does Specialization Matter for Growth?” Industrial and Corporate Change 8 (2): 267–288.Google Scholar
Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude. 1823. Traité d’économie politique. Paris: Bouguet et Lévi.Google Scholar
Diderot, Denis. 1994. Œuvres. ed. Versini, L.. 5 volumes. Paris: Robert Laffont.Google Scholar
Dréolle, J.-A. 1848. “Recherches économiques. Mouvement industriel et commercial de la Russie moderne.” La Revue Indépendante 13 (25 February): 421–435.Google Scholar
Faucher, Léon [pseud. ‘X.’]. 1847. “Du servage en Russie.” Journal des Économistes 18 (Aug.–Nov.): 34–43.Google Scholar
Faucher, Léon [pseud. ‘X.’]. 1854. “Les finances de la guerre. I Les finances de la Russie.” Revue des deux mondes (1 Aug. and 15 Nov.): 733–759 and 808–817.Google Scholar
Fontenay, Louis de. [1872?]. Voyage agricole en Russie. Paris: Goin.Google Scholar
Fontpertuis, Ad.-F. de. 1876. “Les exportations agricoles de la Russie et la concurrence des Etats-Unis.” l’Économiste Français 4 (22 January): 108–110.Google Scholar
Goggi, Gianluiggi. 1994. “Civilisation et expériences de référence: à propos de la genèse du fragment politique ‘Sur la Russie.’” Studi Settecenteschi 14: 329–398.Google Scholar
Goggi, Gianluiggi. 2001. “Kolonizatsiia i tsivilizatsiia: russkaia model’ po Didro.” In Evropeiskoe prosveshchenie i razvitie tsivilizatsii v Rossii. Saratov, pp. 48–64.Google Scholar
Grenier, Jean-Yves. 1990. “La notion de croissance dans la pensée économique française au 18ème siècle (1715–1789).” Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 13 (4): 499–549.Google Scholar
Griffiths, David M. 1979: “Eighteenth-century Perceptions of Backwardness: Projects for the Creation of a Third Estate in Catherinean Russia.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 13 (4): 452–472.Google Scholar
Ho, A. S. W. 2006. “Analyzing and Arresting Uneven Development: Friedrich List and Gunnar Myrdal Compared.” Journal of Economic Issues 40 (2): 359–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoselitz, Bert. 1960. “Theories of Stages of Economic Growth.” In Hoselitz, B., ed., Theories of Economic Growth. New York: The Free Press, pp. 193–238.Google Scholar
Jahn, Beate. 2005. “Barbarian Thoughts: Imperialism in the Philosophy of John Stuart Mill.” Review of International Studies 31: 599–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Richard. 1831. An Essay on the Distribution of Wealth, and on the Sources of Taxation. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Jones, Robert. 1977. “Jacob Sievers, Enlightened Reform and the Development of a ‘Third Estate’ in Russia.” The Russian Review 36 (4): 424–437.Google Scholar
Jonveaux, Émile 1872. “La Russie nouvelle.” Le Correspondant (25 February and 3 March): 679–709 and 829–855.Google Scholar
Jouffroy, Théodore. 1866. Mélanges philosophiques. 4 ed.Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
Jourdier, August. 1860a. Des forces productives, destructives et improductives de la Russie. Paris: Franck.Google Scholar
Jourdier, August. 1860b. “La Russie et les améliorations projetées.” Journal des économistes 26 (15 May): 248–257.Google Scholar
Jourdier, August. 1861a. De l’émancipation des serfs en Russie. Paris: Franck.Google Scholar
Jourdier, August. 1861b. Voyage agronomique en Russie 1859–1860. Paris: Franck.Google Scholar
Karp, S. Ia. 2000. “Didro, A.M. Golitsyn i F.V. Kreidman: iz istorii odnoi korrespondentsii XVIII v.” In Karp, S., ed., Russkie i Nemtsy v XVIII veke: vstrecha kul’tur. Moscow: Nauka, pp. 63–69.Google Scholar
Laveleye, Émile de. 1891. De la propriété et de ses formes primitives. 4th edition. Paris: Félix Alcan.Google Scholar
Lavergne, Léonce de. 1859. “De l’abolition du servage en Russie.” Revue des Deux Mondes (1 May): 245–256.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. 1876a. “La dépréciation du papier-monnaie et le paiement des droits de douane en or [in Russia].” l’Économiste Français 50 (9 Dec.): 749–751.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. 1876b. “Les ressources de la Russie.” l’Économiste Français 49 (2 Dec.): 717–719.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. 1878. “Les finances russes.” l’Économiste Français 4 (26 Jan.): 97–100.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, Paul. 1884. Le collectivisme: Examen critique du nouveau socialisme. Paris: Guillaumin.Google Scholar
List, Friedrich. 1856. National System of Political Economy. Trans. Matile, George-Auguste. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.Google Scholar
Malthus, Thomas. 1817. An Essay on the Principle of Population. 3 volumes. 5thedition. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Margairaz, Dominique. 1999. “La querelle du luxe au XVIIIe siècle.” In Marseille, J., ed., Le Luxe en France, du siècle des Lumières à nos jours. Paris: ADHE, pp. 25–37.Google Scholar
Masoero, Alberto. 1990: “Una concezione capitalistica della modernità: Ivan Kondrat’evich Babst sullo sviluppo della Russia (1852–1861).” In Masoero, A. and Venturi, A., eds., Russica: Studi e ricerche sulla Russia contemporanea. Milan: Franco Angelli, pp. 1–35.Google Scholar
McGrew, Roderick. 1976. “Dilemmas of Development: Baron Heinrich Friedrich Storch (1776–1835) on the Growth of Imperial Russia.” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 24 (1): 31–71.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1848. Principles of Political Economy, with Some of their Applications to Social Philosophy. 2 volumes. London: John Parker.Google Scholar
Molinari Gustave de, . 1866. “L’émancipation des serfs.” Journal des économistes 1 (January–March): 333–344.Google Scholar
Molinari Gustave de, . 1874. “Résultats de l’émancipation des serfs en Russie.” Journal des économistes 34 (April–June): 422–434.Google Scholar
Molinari Gustave de, . 1877. Lettres sur la Russie. 2ndedition. Paris: Dentu.Google Scholar
Molinari Gustave de, . 1880. L’Évolution économique du XIXe siècle. Théorie du progrès. Paris: Reinwald.Google Scholar
Molinari Gustave de, . 1884. L’Évolution politique et la révolution. Paris: Reinwald/Guillaumin.Google Scholar
Pautet, Jules. 1859. “L’émancipation de la Russie considérée au point de vue de l’économie politique.” Journal des économistes 22 (15 June): 380–392.Google Scholar
Perrot, Jean-Claude. 1992. Une histoire intellectuelle de l’économie politique, XVIIe–XVIIIe siècle. Paris: EHESS.Google Scholar
Perrot, Philippe. 1995. Le Luxe: une richesse entre faste et confort, XVIIIe–XIXe siècle. Paris: Éd du Seuil.Google Scholar
Petit, Eugène. 1881. “L’esprit de révolution en Russie.” Journal des économistes 14 (15 May): 199–207.Google Scholar
Pradt, D. Dufour de. 1823. Parallèle de la puissance anglaise et russe relativement à l’Europe. Paris.Google Scholar
Proudhon, P.-J. 1866. Théorie de la propriété. 2ndedition. Paris: Librairie Internationale.Google Scholar
Psalidopoulos, Michales and Mata, Maria Eugenia, eds. 2002. Economic Thought and Policy in Less Developed Europe: The Nineteenth Century. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rabbe, Alphonse. 1825. Résumé de l’histoire de la Russie. Paris.Google Scholar
Raffalovich, Arthur. 1884a. “Les finances russes.” l’Économiste Français 2, 4 (12 and 26 Jan.): 32–34 and 103–105.Google Scholar
Raffalovich, Arthur. 1884b. “Le rembursement de la dette de l’état à la banque de Russie.” l’Économiste Français 31 (2 Aug.): 138–139.Google Scholar
Raiskii, B. G. 1982. “Didro i brat’ia Naryshkiny: Stranitsy iz istorii frantsuzsko-russkikh kul’turnykh sviazei.” Frantsuzskii Ezhegodnik 1982: 240–251.Google Scholar
Reinert, Erik. 2005. “German Economics as Development Economics: From the Thirty Years’ War to World War II.” In Jomo, K. S. and Reinert, E., eds., The Origins of Development Economics: How Schools of Economic Thought Have Addressed Development. New Delhi and London: Tulika/Zed, pp. 48–68.Google Scholar
Ronin, Vladimir. 1993. “Un economiste belge dans la presse russe.” Revue Belge d’Histoire Contemporaine 29 (3–4): 323–48.Google Scholar
Sagnier, Henri. 1874 . "La production agricole de la Russie.” La Revue Scientifique 23 and 31 (5 Dec. 1874 and 30 Jan. 1875): 545–548 and 733–735.Google Scholar
Saint-Jullien, Charles de. 1863. “Système de crédit en Russie.” Journal des économistes 40 (Oct.–Dec.): 446–456.Google Scholar
Say, Louis. 1822. Considérations sur l’industrie et la législation. Paris: Aillaud.Google Scholar
Say, Louis. 1827. Traité élémentaire de la richesse individuelle et de la richesse publique. Paris: Librairie universelle de P. Mongie aîné.Google Scholar
Say, Louis. 1836. Études sur la richesse des nations et réfutation des principales erreurs en économie politique. Paris: Librairie du commerce.Google Scholar
Schérer, Jean-Benoît. 1788. Histoire raisonnée du commerce de la Russie. 2 volumes. Paris.Google Scholar
Schnitzler, J.-H. 1856–1869. L’empire des tsars au point actuel de la science. 4 volumes. Paris: Veuve Berger-Levrault et Fils.Google Scholar
Senghaas, Dieter. 1991. “Friedrich List and the Basic Problems of Modern Development.” Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 14 (3): 451–467.Google Scholar
Shanin, Teodor. 1983. “Late Marx: Gods and Craftsmen.” In Shanin, T., ed., Late Marx and the Russian Road: Marx and “the Peripheries of Capitalism.” New York: Monthly Review Press, pp. 3–39.Google Scholar
Sheptun, Alla. 2005. “The German Historical School and Russian Economic Thought.” Journal of Economic Studies 32 (4): 349–374.Google Scholar
Simonde de Sismondi, Jean. [1819] 1827. Nouveaux principes d’économie politique ou De la richesse dans ses rapports avec la population. 2ndedition. Paris: Delaunay.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1802. Recherches sur la nature et les causes de la richesse des nations. Trans. Garnier, Germain. 5 volumes. Paris: H. Agasse.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1852. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Nelson.Google Scholar
Spengler, Joseph J. 1960. “John Stuart Mill on Economic Development.” In Hoselitz, B., ed., Theories of Economic Growth. New York: The Free Press, pp. 113–154.Google Scholar
Stanziani, Alessandro. 1998. L’économie en révolution: le cas russe, 1870–1930. Paris: Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Stanziani, Alessandro. 2008. “Free Labor—Forced Labor: An Uncertain Boundary? The Circulation of Economic Ideas between Russia and Europe from the 18th to the Mid-19th Century.” Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 9 (1): 27–52.Google Scholar
Starobinski, Jean. 1983. “Le mot ‘civilisation.’” Le temps de la réflexion 4: 13–52.Google Scholar
Varouxakis, Georgios. 1999. “National Character in John Stuart Mill’s Thought.” History of European Ideas 24 (6): 375–391.Google Scholar
Voitchovsky, Sarah. 2005. “Does the Profile of Income Inequality Matter for Economic Growth?” Journal of Economic Growth 10: 273–296.Google Scholar
von Laue, Theodore H. 1951. “The Industrialization of Russia in the Writings of Sergej Witte.” American Slavic & East European Review 10 (3): 177–190.Google Scholar
von Storch, Heinrich F. 1823. Cours d’économie politique; ou, Exposition des principes qui déterminent la prospérité des nations. 4 volumes. 2ndedition. Paris: J.P. Aillaud.Google Scholar
White, James. 1996. Karl Marx and the Intellectual Origins of Dialectical Materialism. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Witold, J. 1874. “La Russie économique et sociale.” l’Économiste Français 21, 22, 24, 27, 31, and 35 (May-October): 583–586, 610–612, 673–675, 9–10, 122–124, 250–252.Google Scholar
Wolowski, Louis. 1858. “La question du servage en Russie.” Revue des Deux Mondes (15 July): 317–349; (1 August): 595–631; (15 Sept.): 393–446.Google Scholar
Wolowski, Louis. 1864. Les finances de la Russie. Paris: Guillaumin/Dentu.Google Scholar
Zweynert, Joachim. 2004. “The Theory of Internal Goods in Nineteenth-Century Russian Classical Economic Thought.” European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 11 (4): 525–554.Google Scholar