Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective

by Alexander Gerschenkron

Overview

These fourteen essays covering a wide range of subjects of great current interest reflect the continuous evolution of the author’s thought from 1951 to 1961. Range and flexibility characterize Alexander Gerschenkron’s dynamic approach to Europe’s industrial history. Connecting evolution in individual countries with their degree of economic backwardness, he presents the industrialization of the continent as a “case of unity in diversity,” thus offering a cogent alternative, supported by case studies, to the traditional view of industrialization as monotonous repetition of the same process from country to country. Brought together for the first time, these essays were originally published in specialized periodicals in the United States and abroad.

Explaining and systematizing the elements of creative innovation in industrial history, Gerschenkron opens new paths of research and poses a number of pertinent questions for the problem of economic development in backward countries. His versatile analysis not only includes construction of ingenious industrial output indices and fruitful historical hypotheses on the index-number problem, but also original insights gleaned from a study of Soviet novels and a brilliant critique of Doctor Zhivago.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674226005
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1962
Series:	Belknap Press S
Pages:	468
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

The late Alexander Gerschenkron held a degree of Doctor Rerum Politicarum from the University of Vienna. He was Chief of the Foreign Areas Section at the Federal Reserve Board, as well as Walter S. Barker Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic History Workshop, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective

Reflections on the Concept of "Prerequisites" of Modern Industrialization

Social Attitudes, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development

Notes on the Rate of Industrial Growth in Italy, 1881-1913

Rosario Romeo and the Original Accumulation of Capital

Russia: Patterns and Problems of Economic Development, 1861-1958

Economic Development in Russian Intellectual History of the Nineteenth Century. Annex: Realism and Utopia in Russian Economic Thought, A Review

Some Aspects of Industrialization in Bulgaria, 1878-1939

Soviet Heavy Industry: A Dollar Index of Output, 1927-1937

Notes on the Rate of Industrial Growth in Soviet Russia

Industrial Enterprise in Soviet Russia

A Neglected Source of Economic Information on Soviet Russia

Reflections on Soviet Novels

Notes on Doctor Zhivago

The Approach to European Industrialization: A Postscript

Appendix I: Description of an Index of Italian Industrial Development, 1881-1913

Appendix II: Industrialization in Bulgaria, Basic Data and Calculations

Appendix III: Problems of Measuring Long-Term Growth in Income and Wealth

Index