The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s was perceived as a victory for capitalist democracy, yet the significance of socialist economic theory remains contentious. As a consequence, Vincent Barnett provides the first comprehensive account of the historical development of Russian and Soviet economic thought across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and considers the future for Russian economics in the twenty-first century.
Utilising an extensive range of historical materials and sources, this book examines the many different strands of economic thought that have been present in Russia, including classical, neoclassical, historical, socialist, liberal and Marxian schools. Barnett traces the influence that the different schools of thought exerted domestically and overseas, and the impact that their ideas had on shaping government policies both before and after 1917. This book contains a detailed time line of the most significant works published by Russian economists, and analyses the effects that historical discontinuities have had on the institutional structure of Russian economics as a discipline.
This book will prove essential reading to all those interested in international economic history and the evolution of Russian economic thought.
