Why Is Russia Not Rich?

Russia has always been a rather poor country. From it’s start under Ivan the Terrible in 1547 to Serfdom. Russian elites kept the common people economically impoverished. On top of that Russia’s geography is large and difficult to transport stuff with. meaning trade was limited. During the industrial revolution Russia did not develop under capitalism. Laissez-faire capitalism has limited results and could not compete with foreign competitors. They then attempted the Emancipation Reform of 1861 to free the serfs and lift Russian peasants out of poverty. But they forced peasants to pay for the land, making any extra income often worthless. The Communist Revolution caused another great crisis but Russia did develop during its early socialist period. The Command Economy worked to reduce friction in the economy. During the Great Depression they caught up with the west in political and military power. However, after Stalin corruption began to set in and in the 1960s-1980s Cold War Russia slowly declined in economic growth. Eventually by 1989 the Breakup of the Soviet Union began. Communism was replaced with an oligarchy and feudalism. Which was the old communist system with a hint of capitalism and feudalism. When Putin came to power their economy became more and more corrupt and russia is now in a downward spiral economically as its economy begins to age and is unable to import replacement parts due to sanction. Credits - Research: Mrs Scope - Audio: Seb. Soto - Writing, voice over, and animation: Avery from History Scope Social Media - Patreon: - Discord: - Twitter: - Instagram: - Facebook: Sources: Websites Articles A. Baykov - The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1954), pp. 137-149 E. Zhuravskaya, S. Guriev, A. Markevich, Andrei - New Russian Economic History (November 13, 2021). Journal of Economic Literature, forthcoming V.V. Moiseev - The Main Reasons for the Backward Economy of Russia. 2019 International Conference on Politics, Economics and Management (ICPEM 2019) R. E. Ericson - Does Russia Have a “Market Economy“?, East European Politics and Societies. Vol. 15, No. 0 (2001), pp. 291-319. T. F. Remington - Russian Economic Inequality in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Politics. Vol. 50, No. 3, Special Issue: Wither Russia? Twenty-Five Years After the Collapse of Communism (April 2018), pp. 395-416 A. Cheremukhin, M. Golosov, S. Guriev, A. Tsyvinski - The Industrialization and Economic Development of Russia through the Lens of a Neoclassical Growth Model. Review of Economic Studies (2016) 0, 1–37 F. Novokmet, T. Piketty, G. Zucman - From Soviets to oligarchs: inequality and property in Russia 1905-2016. J Econ Inequal (2018) 16:189–223