Indicators Representativeness and Assessments Objectivity in Comparativistics: Modern Foreign Researchers about the Economy of the Russian Empire in the Second Half of the XIX Century

The relevance of comparative studies of the level of industrial and economic development of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX century is determined by the fact that their results in some cases are used to substantiate theoretical ideas about the national characteristics of the Russian economy and society in comparison with the leading countries of Industrial Revolution. In economic literature, assertions about the “catastrophic” backwardness of Russia during this period are often encountered. Modern foreign historical-economic research allows for a more objective assessment of the gap between the level of industrial and economic development of the Russian Empire and the “advanced” states. However, the authors of these studies do not always succeed in consistently applying the principle of uniform criteria for comparing different economies. In particular, it is hardly justified: in some cases, to take into account, and in others, not to take into account the population and economic potential of territorial isolated peripheral regions of the respective economies. For example, the value of historical and economic comparisons is reduced by the confusion in research between the actual territory of the Russian Empire in the middle and second half of the XIX century, its territory within the conditional “borders of 1913” and the territory within “former USSR” borders. In this regard the article notes that conclusions drawn on the basis of fragmentary and arbitrarily interpreted information can’t be considered as fully correct. According to the author, in a comparative analysis of the economies-leaders of the Industrial Revolution, it is necessary to use assessment methods that take into account the population and indicators of economic development of peripheral territories were included in trade and financial exchanges with these economies, because this inclusion strongly spired the development of economies-leaders.