Has Russia Deindustrialized?

You can accurately blame Vladimir Putin for quite a lot of things, but I don’t think you can blame him for the “deindustrialization” of Russia because no such de-industrialization appears to have taken place. Should Russia do a better job of fostering “innovation?” Sure. Does the economic model of the early Putin years need to be modified? Absolutely. Is the Russian economy ultra-competitive? Not at all. But it simply isn’t the case that Russia is now a giant wasteland of shuttered factories, a place where “they don’t build things anymore.” As shown by statistics from a wide range of respected international institutions, Russian industrial production has basically been increasing about as fast as the rest of the economy. It’s quite possible, indeed it’s very likely, that a better-run economic policy would have fostered more industrial growth, but Russian industry actually seems to be doing OK.