1. 2012. 03. 13 Russian Trade and Commerce Go Ahreum
Russian Economic Ideas since Perestroika Between Path Dependence and Paradigm Shift
Russian Trade and Commerce
Go Ahreum

2. Contents Introduction
The Pre-revolutionary Legacy of Russian Social Thought
The Intellectual Background of Perestroika
Soviet Economic Debates
Russian Economic Debates since 1991
6. Conclusion

3. Introduction The problems of establishing a market economy
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Introduction
The problems of establishing a market economy
The clashes between conflicting patterns of thought
that are deeply rooted in the Soviet
and pre-Soviet history of Russian economic ideas

4. The hostile attitude toward capitalism
2. Pre-revolutionary Legacy of Russian Social Thought
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Holism
~ 18th century
Orthodox Christianity
Anthropocentrism
Unity between belief and thought, individual and society, State and Church ↓
The hostile attitude toward capitalism
In the middle of the 19th century
Slavophiles → There’s basic cultural difference
between Western Europe and Russia
Westernisers → There’s no difference
between Russian culture and that of Western

5. Perestroika Acceleration & Socialism with a human face ↑
3. The Intellectual Background to Perestroika
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Infusion into the mouldering swamps of the planned economy with mobilising ideals
Perestroika
Acceleration & Socialism with a human face ↑
The shestidesyatniki - the theory of Economic Mechanism
(Increasing the autonomy of Soviet enterprises
from the central plan)
The close links with the legacy of
pre-revolutionary Russian social philosophy
Perestroika is a typical example of
how socio-philosophical and economic ideas
were put into practice with a time lag of two or three decades

6. 1. The early stage A conflict between its bureaucratic organisation
4. Soviet Economic Debates
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1. The early stage
A conflict between its bureaucratic organisation
and some natural economic laws
Discussion on perfection of the calculation
of planned production expenditures
(not on a transition to market price)
The issue of Social Property
(Socialist property did not have a real owner) ↓
Without changing the basic structure,
economic reforms of property had been and illusion

7. 2. Inflow of Western Liberal Ideas
4. Soviet Economic Debates
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2. Inflow of Western Liberal Ideas
MEiMO
– Opinion about Re-privatisation
- Political power or economic law?
(2) Novyi mir
– “ Where there is more market, the pirogi are meatier ”
- Mr. and Mrs. Piiasheva demanded radical
economic reforms and drew a bright picture
of Russia’s capitalist future
- Incompatibility between the market and the plan

8. 3. Paradigm Shift or Path-Dependence
4. Soviet Economic Debates
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3. Paradigm Shift or Path-Dependence
The decline of Soviet ideology:
Increasing symptoms of crises within the Soviet economy
The influence of Western neo-liberal ideas
The peacuful revolutions in Europe
Perestroika had not fulfilled its promise
of raising the living standard of the population ↓
The old dogmas in Soviet economic thought had been
replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one

9. 3. Paradigm Shift or Path-Dependence
4. Soviet Economic Debates
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3. Paradigm Shift or Path-Dependence
Although a paradigm shift had definitely taken place,
it can shown that revolution and path-dependence
were not necessarily mutually exclusive
Russian neo-liberals
The market economy
= natural organisation of economic affairs
Anti-ideology against Marxist-Leninist dogma
Contradiction with Russian intellectual traditions

10. 1. Post-industrial Society and the Comeback of Slavophile Ideas
5. Russian Economic Debates since 1991
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1. Post-industrial Society and the Comeback of Slavophile Ideas
Growing industrial tendency in the Western world
→ Why should Russia go through capitalism
instead of directly harvesting the fruits of post-industrialism~? ↓
But Russia had ended up in “Wild capitalism”
Was capitalism possible, Was it suitable for Russia?
Slavephile Ideas:
Russian market economy was possible, but that it would be
very different from the Western types;
Due to Russia’s cultural specificity
capitalism had been remain impossible

11. 5. Russian Economic Debates since 1991
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2. The Regulation Debate
- The academicians were the first to fight back fiercely
against the market reforms
- Selective support for the most important branches of production
L. Abalkin, N. Petrakov, S. Shatalin:
To achieve a rational reconstruction,
the whole economy should be put back on state-regulated tracks
(Investment activity could be stimulated only by the state)
A rational economic system is;
One that made the most effective use of scarce resources (X)
One that followed a political logic by serving the national interests (O)
The Russian discussion on regulation had fairly
little in common with the debates among Western economists

12. 3. The Rise of Russian Institutionalism
5. Russian Economic Debates since 1991
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3. The Rise of Russian Institutionalism
- More attention was paid to analysis of Russian reality
- The growing awareness to the structural
and institutional condition of the Russian economy
The central theme of the modern Russian institutionalism
The interplay between formal and informal institutions
Russian institutionalism bridged the gap
between the Slavopiles and the neoclassical liberals
Could Western settings simply be transferred to Russia?
Analysing the prevailing patterns of thought and behaviour
was a prerequisite for successful economic reforms

13. 5. Russian Economic Debates since 1991
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4. A New Consensus?
Most Russian economists agreed that political consolidation
and a strengthening of the government are the crucial factors
for the backing of stable economic growth
and social development
(Different thoughts between economists on p.15)
The Key issue of the Russian transition is still unsolved
The post-socialist model of Russian society is
like a hybrid reflecting the still-existing profound indecisiveness
regarding the model for the Russian society of the future

14. Conclusion The clearly prevailing attitude is that
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Conclusion
The clearly prevailing attitude is that
the failure to implement a market economy
is evidence of a basic difference
between ‘Western’ and ‘Eastern’ societies
Russian economists today is clearly
more conservative and less Western-minded