Hassan Malik
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691170169
- eISBN:
- 9780691185002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691170169.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter traces Russia's financial reforms in the late nineteenth century. It puts the reforms associated with Sergei Witte's tenure as finance minister from 1892 to 1903 in a broader context, ...
More
This chapter traces Russia's financial reforms in the late nineteenth century. It puts the reforms associated with Sergei Witte's tenure as finance minister from 1892 to 1903 in a broader context, and also highlights key strategic errors made during his tenure. As the chapter shows, Witte, more than any other figure in Russia or the West, is associated with the boom in Russian investment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During his tenure as finance minister, Russia adopted the gold standard in 1897 and repeatedly turned to the foreign capital markets for loans to finance an ambitious program of state-led industrialization. His name was similarly associated with the boom in Russian railroad construction, the Trans-Siberian Railway in particular—an association that began in his earliest days while working in the railroad industry, first in the private sector (initially as a lowly conductor to learn the business) and then in government.Less
This chapter traces Russia's financial reforms in the late nineteenth century. It puts the reforms associated with Sergei Witte's tenure as finance minister from 1892 to 1903 in a broader context, and also highlights key strategic errors made during his tenure. As the chapter shows, Witte, more than any other figure in Russia or the West, is associated with the boom in Russian investment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During his tenure as finance minister, Russia adopted the gold standard in 1897 and repeatedly turned to the foreign capital markets for loans to finance an ambitious program of state-led industrialization. His name was similarly associated with the boom in Russian railroad construction, the Trans-Siberian Railway in particular—an association that began in his earliest days while working in the railroad industry, first in the private sector (initially as a lowly conductor to learn the business) and then in government.
Hassan Malik
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691170169
- eISBN:
- 9780691185002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691170169.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This introductory chapter argues that the story of the Russian investment boom and bust of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is based on, among other things, financial and economic ...
More
This introductory chapter argues that the story of the Russian investment boom and bust of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is based on, among other things, financial and economic data, as well as the correspondence, reports, and other documents in government and private banking archives in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Paris, London, and New York. The 1918 Bolshevik repudiation of debts contracted by the Tsarist and Provisional governments—the largest default in history—punctuated the end of an era during which Russia had become the leading net international debtor in the world. It is relevant to an extensive academic literature that stretches across the disciplines of history, economics, and political science. The secondary literature cited in these sources relates to the Russian Revolution, banking and business history, the historical sociology of revolutions, and international capital flows. Given the crucial importance of the last of these, the story is international, touching on aspects of the histories of nations such as Russia, France, Germany, Britain, the United States, China, and Japan.Less
This introductory chapter argues that the story of the Russian investment boom and bust of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is based on, among other things, financial and economic data, as well as the correspondence, reports, and other documents in government and private banking archives in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Paris, London, and New York. The 1918 Bolshevik repudiation of debts contracted by the Tsarist and Provisional governments—the largest default in history—punctuated the end of an era during which Russia had become the leading net international debtor in the world. It is relevant to an extensive academic literature that stretches across the disciplines of history, economics, and political science. The secondary literature cited in these sources relates to the Russian Revolution, banking and business history, the historical sociology of revolutions, and international capital flows. Given the crucial importance of the last of these, the story is international, touching on aspects of the histories of nations such as Russia, France, Germany, Britain, the United States, China, and Japan.
