"Good" and "bad" billionaires in post-soviet Russia (1997–2020)

Abstract

The article shows the idea of American economist Ruchir Sharma about "good" and "bad" billion-aires in relation to modern Russia, indicates the criteria proposed by Ruchir Sharma for classifying billionaires as "good" and "bad". The ratio between "good" and "bad" billionaires in modern Russia is studied for the period from 1997 till 2020. To identify "good" billionaires, their list for 2008, 2015 and 2020 is given, indicating companies and industry. For the same years, the shares of "good" billionaires in the total amount of billionaires and their total property were calculated. Sig-nificant growth of a number of "good" billionaires and their share in their total amount and total property of billionaires has been found. The main factors that determined the dynamics and share of "good" billionaires are indicated: the dynamics of world oil prices and the maturity of the Russian bourgeoisie. The share of "good" billionaires in Russia is being compared with the remaining 19 countries analysed by Ruchir Sharma. It turns out that even in the best year of 2020 for Russia in terms of the share of "good" billionaires, it was far behind other countries. Objective and subjective reasons for Russia’s catastrophic lag in the share of "good" billionaires are shown. Objective reasons include the youth of Russian capitalism and the huge demographic losses of Russia in the XX century, especially among the creative part of the population. Subjective reasons include the vices of the carried out in post-Soviet Russia political and economic reforms and the resulting economic and political structure. The negative consequences of the small share of "good" billionaires are analysed. These include the economic crisis in Russia in 2008 and the unsatisfactory structure of the Russian economy, as well as a huge social differentiation. The author proposes measures for accelerated modernization of the Russian economy, creating the most favourable conditions for the growth of "good" billionaires.