Russia: A Long View by Yegor Gaidar.

• Author: Ament, Suzanne
• Position: Book review

Gaidar, Yegor. Russia: A Long View. Trans. Antonina W. Bois. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012. xviii + 543 pages.

Reading this book from economist Yegor Gaidar as a Russian historian rather than an economist was both interesting and disappointing. On the plus side, the style is easy to read and even complex economic features and arguments are usually stated clearly. If you are looking for a great deal of information on Russia, however, the book falls short, which is surprising given the title. Nevertheless, for broad-minded social scientists, world historians, and economists, this book is a treat.

Gaidar examines a long period of time from prehistoric times to the present, using multiple examples from around the world. What ties the book together is the question of how Gross Domestic Product (GDP) bears on the transformation of various models of society to stages of modern or postindustrial economic growth. The implementation, type, and extent of taxation also form common threads that strongly affect economic and social change. Gaidar notes that modern economic growth and capitalism, although sometimes co-existing, are not the same. Among the models Gaidar employs in his study are models of societies in antiquity, traditional agrarian societies, steppe societies, and mountain societies. He also examines models of democratic and authoritarian structures and considers both the Marxist approach to development and the transformation of Soviet society. Gaidar notes repeatedly that predicting the future is generally fruitless and leads to errors since there are different stages of development with different defining features, and because cultures have different traditions, customs, and realities that can alter the trajectory of a given stage of development. Thus, rather than making strong predictions, he presents the range of issues, features, and concerns that should be considered in a given model or stage of development for a specific society. In considering how specific states will fare in the transformation to modern economic growth, he notes several key factors, including the condition of the world economy, the country's national ideology, the relative status of the state's economic indicators, and the country's cultural uniqueness. He also identifies education levels, urbanization, and technology as three distinct factors that influence the rate of growth. Concerning Russia, it is perhaps not surprising that Gaidar, who was on the team...