Modernization and the Russian Economy: Three Hundred Years of Catching Up

Abstract

The backwardness of Russia when compared to the countries of Western Europe was apparent at turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, when, it is generally considered, Russian economic growth began. From that time on, overcoming this backwardness, reducing the gap between Russia and the more developed countries of Europe and the rest of the world, became the principal goal of Russian economic development and the principal task of Russian governments. This task, which may be described as that of “modernization in order to catch up”, was first articulated by Peter the Great (1683-1725) whose celebrated economic and technological changes were achieved thanks to a policy of borrowing from the West.