Financing Late Industrialization: Evidence from the State Bank of the Russian Empire

Marvin Suesse and Theocharis Grigoriadis (theocharis.grigoriadis@fu-berlin.de)
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Theocharis Grigoriadis: School of Business and Economics, Free University of Berlin

No tep0225, Economic Papers from Trinity College Dublin, Economics Department

Abstract: Gerschenkron (1962) argued that public institutions such as the State Bank of the Russian Empire spurred the country's industrialization. We test this assertion by exploiting plant-level variation in access to State Bank branches using a unique geocoded factory data set. Employing an identification strategy based on geographical distances between banks and factories, our results show improved access to public banking encouraged faster growth in factory-level revenue, mechanization, and labor productivity. In line with theories of late industrialization, we also find evidence that public credit mattered more in regions where commercial banks were fewer and markets were smaller.

Keywords: industrialization; economic geography; banking; industrial policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G28 L52 N23 O14 P41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 88 pages
Date: 2025-03
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