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Alexander Gerschenkron

2022; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-030-99052-7_16

2662-6101

Andrei Belykh,

Philosophy, Science, and History

The paper discusses the life and the works of Alexander Gerschenkron (1904–1978). Born in the Russian Empire, educated in Austria, he emigrated to the USA and became a leading scholar in economic history. Studying statistics of the USSR economy, he developed “Gerschenkron effect” which measures the difference between Paasche and Laspeyres indices. His main research focused on the history of European industrialization resulted in the concept of the possible positive role of relative economic backwardness in economic development. Underdeveloped countries have an opportunity to use technological achievements of developed countries and, as a result, can overleap certain stages of development which more developed countries have already overcome. For Gerschenkron, Russia was not only his native land—it was the main object of his research. His concluded that Russian economic development was an integral part of the general European pattern and that the history of the Russian industrialization can assist in understanding the history of Europe.