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Abstract

The project examines the transformation of accounting during the late-Soviet and early post-Soviet transition to capitalism. It focuses on how key accounting concepts, such as profit, capital, and costs, were redefined as Soviet economic practices encountered capitalist logic. Accounting was not merely a technical instrument but a mechanism that made economic priorities visible, shaped decision-making, and mediated institutional change. Drawing on legal and archival sources, accounting literature, international organisations’ archives, and interviews with practitioners, the project examines these transformations at the levels of the state, enterprises, accountants, and international organisations. It offers a new intellectual and social history perspective on Russia’s transition to capitalism. For info, contact: maralexroma[at]gmail.com

Abstract

Scarcity of land, livestock, grain, and timber prompted agronomic debate and state intervention in 18th-century Europe. Yet, it seemingly resulted in no sensible productivity gains. This article reassesses the role of local agricultural associations in the eastern Alpine Austro-Venetian borderlands between 1750 and 1810. Rather than ineffective intermediaries, societies in Udine, Klagenfurt, Gorizia, and Ljubljana acted autonomously, responding to changing political, property and resource regimes. Appropriating local expertise, they promoted own, interrelated agendas of agricultural intensification through drainage, commons division, balanced livestock and crop production, and the restructuring of forests, thereby reshaping regional political economies and territorial organization.