The Industrialization and Economic Development of Russia through the Lens of a Neoclassical Growth Model

This article studies the structural transformation of Russia in 1885-1940 from an agrarian to an industrial economy through the lens of a two-sector neoclassical growth model. We construct a data set that covers Tsarist Russia during 1885-1931 and the Soviet Union during 1928-1940. We develop a methodology that allows us to identify the types of frictions and economic mechanisms that had the largest quantitative impact on Russian economic development. We find no evidence that Tsarist agricultural institutions were a significant barrier to labor reallocation to manufacturing, or that “Big Push” mechanisms were a major driver of Soviet growth.