Moscow, Moscow, Russian Federation
From an economic perspective, urbanization is considered as a transition of labor from agriculture to urban manufacturing sectors. The objective of the article is to describe the key processes of urbanization in Russia in the perspective of the theoretical paradigm of the “modern” economic growth regime coined by S. Kuznets and updated by O. Galor. The author bases on the results of studies of urbanization processes based on the evidence on Russia in the 19th-20th centuries, using reconstructed historical data and quantitative research methods. The author resorts to cross-country comparisons, by borrowing quantitative evidence from the data sets. In this perspective the author studies urbanization as an ultimate source of economic growth, since cities are considered as centers of production, trade and innovation, and provide agglomeration economic effects. Governments at various levels can promote urbanization by investing in infrastructure, as well as providing incentives for businesses to locate in cities. Thus, for Russia’s catching-up development, government incentives and direct participation in the construction of railways were important. At the early stage of “modern” growth an increase in wage differentiation was observed, due to widening of skill premium and increase in the share of those employed in the urban economy. Within-country spatial differentiation also tended to increase. However, during the most part of the 20th century both inequalities moderated. Thus, the author provides a state-of-the-art description and theoretical explanation of the processes of technological and institutional modernization of the economy towards its industrial development and the consequent change in its structure.
economic development, technology, institutions, railway transport, fiscal state, Kuznets curve
1. Didenko D.V. Opyt gosudarstvennogo strategicheskogo planirovaniya v SSSR v teoreticheskih i empiricheskih issledovaniyah // Ekonomicheskie i social'nye peremeny: fakty, tendencii, prognoz. – 2019. – T. 12. – № 5. – S. 211–228.
2. Poberezhnikov I.V. Problemy rossiyskih modernizaciy imperskogo perioda v noveyshey istoriografii // Ural'skiy istoricheskiy vestnik. – 2020. – № 1 (66). – S. 140–148.
3. Kuznets S. Modern Economic Growth: Rate, Structure, and Spread. – New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1966.
4. Galor O. Unified Growth Theory. – Princeton (N.J.): Princeton University Press, 2011.
5. Nefedov S.A. Istoriya Rossii. Faktornyy analiz. V 2 t. – M.: Territoriya buduschego, 2010, 2011.
6. Mironov B.N. Rossiyskaya imperiya: ot tradicii k modernu: v 3 t. 2-e izd., ispr. T. 1. – SPb.: Dmitriy Bulanin, 2018.
7. Vodarskiy Ya.E. Naselenie Rossii v konce XVII – nachale XVIII veka. – M.: Nauka, 1977.
8. Broadberry S., Korchmina E. Catching-up and falling behind: Russian economic growth, 1690s-1880s // Journal of Economic History. – 2024. – Vol. 84. – № 4. – P. 997-1028. – URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022050724000287.
9. Kuboniwa M., Shida Y., Tabata S. Gross Domestic Products // Kuboniwa M. et al. (Eds.). Russian Economic Development over Three Centuries: New Data and Inferences. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. – 2019. – P. 335–419 (Appendix Tables and Notes: – URL: https://www.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/rrc/English/mt_images/publications/Appendix_tables_Chapter_11_and_Appendix_Note_11.4._20191120.xlsx).
10. Koval'chenko I.D., Milov L.V. Vserossiyskiy agrarnyy rynok (XVIII – nachalo XX v.): Opyt kolichestvennogo analiza. – M.: Nauka, 1974.
11. Mironov B.N. Vnutrenniy rynok Rossii vo vtoroy polovine XVIII – pervoy polovine XIX veka. – L.: Nauka, 1981.
12. Kahan A. The Plow, the Hammer and the Knout: An Economic History of Eighteenth-Century Russia. – Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
13. Guansyan Chzh. Transport i ekonomicheskoe razvitie Rossii v XIX — nachale XX veka / per. s kit., nauch. red. A.M. Kuryshov. // Istoriko-ekonomicheskie issledovaniya. – 2016. – T. 17. – № 4. – S. 645–696.
14. Mizis Yu.A. Formirovanie rynka Central'nogo Chernozem'ya vo vtoroy polovine XVII – pervoy polovine XVIII vv. – Tambov: Yulis, 2006.
15. Boyko V.P. Tomskoe kupechestvo v konce XVI–XIX vv. Iz istorii formirovaniya sibirskoy burzhuazii. – Tomsk: Vodoley, 1996.
16. Tompston S.R. Rossiyskaya vneshnyaya torgovlya XIX – nachala XX vv. organizaciya i finansirovanie / Per. s angl. – M.: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya enciklopediya (ROSSPEN), 2008.
17. Kotilaine J.T. Russia’s foreign trade and economic expansion in the seventeenth century: Windows on the World. Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2005.
18. Valetov T.Ya. Proekt «Statistika vneshney torgovli Rossiyskoy imperii»: harakteristika istochnika i cifrovogo resursa // Istoricheskaya informatika. – 2017. – №. 1. – S. 5–14. – URL: https://doi.org/10.7256/2306-0891.2017.1.22195 (Dannye: www.hist.msu.ru/Dynamics/Foreign_trade.htm
19. Troickiy S.M. Finansovaya politika russkogo absolyutizma v XVIII veke. – M.: Nauka, 1966.
20. Mitchell B. International Historical Statistics. Europe. 5th ed. – Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
21. Kozlova N.V. Rossiyskiy absolyutizm i kupechestvo v XVIII veke (20-e – nachalo 60-h godov). – M.: Arheograficheskiy centr, 1999.
22. Mikityuk V.P. Otnoshenie ural'skih predprinimateley k obrazovaniyu vo vtoroy polovine XIX – nachale XX v.: konflikt «otcov» i «detey» // Ural'skiy istoricheskiy vestnik. – 2017. – № 1. – S. 50–58.
23. Moshenskiy S.Z. Rynok cennyh bumag Rossiyskoy imperii. – M.: Ekonomika, 2014.
24. Shumilin O.V., Shumilina V.O. Dohody i rashody gosudarstvennogo byudzheta Russkogo Carstva i Rossiyskoy imperii za 1680-1917 gg. // Audit i finansovyy analiz. – 2018. – №. 5. – S. 203–209.
25. Tabata S., Tabata T. State Budget // Kuboniwa M. et al. (Eds.). Russian Economic Development over Three Centuries: New Data and Inferences. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. – 2019. – P. 251-289 (Appendix Tables: – URL: https://www.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/rrc/English/mt_images/publications/Ch8_Appendix_tables.xlsx).
26. Cheremukhin A., Golosov M., Guriev S., Tsyvinski A. The Industrialization and Economic Development of Russia through the Lens of a Neoclassical Growth Model // The Review of Economic Studies. – 2017. – Vol. 84. – №. 2. – P. 613–649. + Online Appendix. – URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdw026.
27. Didenko D., Földvári P., Van Leeuwen B. The spread of human capital in the former Soviet Union area in a comparative perspective: Exploring a new dataset // Journal of Eurasian Studies. – 2013. – Vol. 4. – № 2. – P. 123-135, Supplementary data. – URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1879366513000122.
28. Comin D.A., Hobijn B. The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper. – No. 15319. – September. 2009. – URL: https://www.nber.org/papers/w15319, https://data.nber.org/data-appendix/w15319/.
29. Maddison Project Database, version 2020. Bolt, J., and J. L. van Zanden. “Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy. A new 2020 update.” – URL: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2020?lang=en.
30. Konchakov R.B., Karpenko M.A. Vliyanie zheleznodorozhnogo transporta na razvitie gorodov evropeyskoy Rossii vo vtoroy polovine XIX – nachale XX vv. // Informacionnyy byulleten' Associacii «Istoriya i komp'yuter». – 2018. – № 47. – S. 33–34. – URL: http://case.asu.ru/files/form_312-32961.pdf.
31. Leonard C.S., Nazarov Z., Borodkin L.I., Karpenko M.A., Konchakov R.B. Land Prices and Railroad Building in European Russia, 1860s to the early 1900s // Russian Journal of Economics. – 2021. – Vol. 7(2). – R. 93–104.
32. Shenk F.B. Poezd v sovremennost'. Mobil'nost' i social'noe prostranstvo Rossii v vek zheleznyh dorog / Per. s nem. – M.: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2016 [2014].
33. Kuznets S. Economic growth and income inequality // American Economic Review. – 1955. – Vol. 45. – №. 1. – P. 1–28.
34. Didenko D.V. «Krivaya Kuzneca» kak proyavlenie sistemnyh transformaciy: differenciaciya dohodov v industrial'noy i postindustrial'noy ekonomike // Ekonomicheskaya istoriya: Ezhegodnik. 2009. – M.: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya enciklopediya (ROSSPEN). – 2009. – S. 300-344.
35. Borodkin L.I. Neravenstvo dohodov v period industrial'noy revolyucii. Universal'na li gipoteza o krivoy Kuzneca? // Rossiya i mir. Pamyati professora Valeriya Ivanovicha Bovykina: Sb. statey. – M.: ROSSPEN. – 2001. – S. 331–355.
36. Borodkin L.I., Valetov T.Ya. Mikroanaliz dannyh o kvalifikacii i dinamike zarabotnoy platy rabochih-tekstil'schikov Tovarischestva manufaktur N.N.Konshina (konec XIX — nachalo XX vv.) // Ekonomicheskaya istoriya. Ezhegodnik. 2000. – M.: ROSSPEN. – 2001. – S. 351–388.
37. Borodkin L.I., Granville B., Leonard C.S. The rural/urban wage gap in the industrialisation of Russia, 1884–1910 // European Review of Economic History. – 2008. – Vol. 12. – №. 1. – R. 67–95.
38. Strumilin S.G. Ocherki ekonomicheskoy istorii Rossii i SSSR. – M.: Nauka, 1966.
39. Van Zanden J.L., Baten J., Földvari P., Van Leeuwen B. The Changing Shape of Global Inequality 1820-2000; Exploring a New Dataset // Review of Income and Wealth. – 2013. – Vol. 60. – №. 2. – R. 279–297. – URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12014.
40. Novokmet F., Piketty T., Zucman G. From Soviets to oligarchs: inequality and property in Russia 1905-2016 // Journal of Economic Inequality. – 2018. – Vol. 16. – №. 2. – P. 189–223. – URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-018-9383-0.
41. Strumilin S.G. Problemy ekonomiki truda. – M.: Nauka, 1982.
42. Volkov V.V. «Deshevo i serdito». Rynok truda v Evropeyskoy Rossii v konce XIX – nachale XX v. V 2 ch. – SPb.: Politehnika-print, 2016.
43. Sbornik statistiko-ekonomicheskih svedeniy po sel'skomu hozyaystvu Rossii i inostrannyh gosudarstv / Ministerstvo zemledeliya. Otdel sel'skoy ekonomii i sel'skohozyaystvennoy statistiki. – SPb. – Pg., 1907, 1916.
44. Didenko D.V. Vekovye tendencii neravenstva dohodov v Rossii: sravnitel'nyy analiz statisticheskoy dinamiki // Ural'skiy istoricheskiy vestnik. – 2022. – № 1(74). –S. 6–15. – URL: https://doi.org/10.30759/1728-9718-2022-1(74)-6-15.
45. Williamson J.G. Regional inequality and the process of national development: A description of the patterns // Economic Development and Cultural Change. – 1965. – Vol. 13. – №. 4. – Part II. – P. 1-84.
46. Kir'yanov Yu.I. Zhiznennyy uroven' rabochih Rossii (konec XIX – nachalo XX v.). – M.: Nauka, 1979.
47. Borodkin L.I., Leonard C.S. The rural urban wage gap in the industrialisation of Russia, 1885–1913. // Oxford University, Department of Economics Working Paper – №. 14. – 2000. – URL: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:37cd0307-2972-4087-ad87-d88ca4ec9d6c.
