Proto-marginalist approach in Russia: Yuli Zhukovsky’s interpretation of Ricardo

Abstract

The paper focuses on the interpretation of David Ricardo’s theory of value and distribution suggested by Yuli Zhukovsky, a 19th century Russian economist. In his interpretation, Zhukovsky introduced a two-factor production model characterized by decreasing marginal productivity as well as supply-and-demand price mechanism. Zhukovsky’s interpretation of Ricardo was an attempt to deliver a more rigorous approach to the agrarian issue — the hot topic that marked the public debates in Russia after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Zhukovsky, an early critic of Marx, outlined a different path in the reception of the classical approach in Russia that preceded later developments in mathematical economics. The paper introduces Zhukovsky’s interpretation as a case of proto-marginalist analysis. It also demonstrates that Zhukovsky treated the mathematical apparatus as an instrument for the practical application of political economy to the issue of economic development.