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Russia's Billionaires

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  • Daniel Treisman

Abstract

Using data collected by Forbes since the 1990s, I examine the emergence and survival of the super-wealthy in Russia over the past two decades and compare Russia's record to those of other countries. The major surge in the number of Russian billionaires came in the mid-2000s, mirroring the dynamic worldwide. While early billionaires were predominantly found in the oil, gas, metals, and banking sectors, the distribution has become more diverse, now including some in trade, real estate, chemicals, and information technology. Only a minority of today's Russian billionaires acquired significant assets in the privatization of the 1990s.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Treisman, 2016. "Russia's Billionaires," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 236-241, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:106:y:2016:i:5:p:236-41
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20161068
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Filip Novokmet & Thomas Piketty & Gabriel Zucman, 2018. "From Soviets to oligarchs: inequality and property in Russia 1905-2016," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(2), pages 189-223, June.
    2. Giuliani, Elisa, 2018. "Regulating global capitalism amid rampant corporate wrongdoing—Reply to “Three frames for innovation policy”," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1577-1582.
    3. Sałach, Katarzyna & Brzeziński, Michał, 2022. "Political connections and the super-rich in Poland," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    4. Dang,Hai-Anh H. & Lokshin,Michael M. & Abanokova,Ksenia & Bussolo,Maurizio, 2018. "Inequality and Welfare Dynamics in the Russian Federation during 1994-2015," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8629, The World Bank.
    5. Natalia Lamberova & Konstantin Sonin, 2018. "Economic transition and the rise of alternative institutions : Political connections in Putin's Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(4), pages 615-648, October.
    6. El-Shagi, Makram & Fidrmuc, Jarko & Yamarik, Steven, 2020. "Inequality and credit growth in Russian regions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 550-558.
    7. Asif, Muhammad & Hussain, Zawar & Asghar, Zahid & Hussain, Muhammad Irfan & Raftab, Mariya & Shah, Said Farooq & Khan, Akbar Ali, 2021. "A statistical evidence of power law distribution in the upper tail of world billionaires’ data 2010–20," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 581(C).
    8. Elena Korchmina & Mikołaj Malinowski, 2024. "How extractive was Russian Serfdom? Income inequality in Moscow Province in the early 19th century," Working Papers 0266, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    9. Gabriel Di Bella & Oksana Dynnikova & Mr. Slavi T Slavov, 2019. "The Russian State’s Size and its Footprint: Have They Increased?," IMF Working Papers 2019/053, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Marandici, Ion, 2024. "Oligarchs, Political Ties and Nomenklatura Capitalism: Introducing a New Dataset," MPRA Paper 120709, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

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