Are there Grounds for Optimism? (to a Discussion between Two Economists)

Abstract

The paper provides a critical analysis of the article of D. A. Fomin “Three crises of modern economic history of Russia” and the review of this article by V. I. Klistorin, published in the second issue of ECO journal for 2022. In the author’s opinion, the reviewer’s evaluation of the position of D. A. Fomin as a neo-Stalinist, calling to repeat the experience of Soviet modernization of 1930th is too categorical and distracts the reader from the important points of his research. On the other hand, D. A. Fomin himself made a serious methodological mistake, due to which the conclusions of his article turned out to be internally contradictory. A valuable scientific contribution of D. A. Fomin’s research was the identification of additional external sources of the rapid postwar recovery of the Soviet economy in 1945–1948. The assertion that since 2008 Russia’s economy has undergone irreversible changes, which will lead to its stabilization at a different, lower level than today, being controversial, deserves at least a careful critical reflection.