Georg von Cancrin

Georg von Cancrin.

Count Yegor Frantsevich Kankrin (Russian: Егор Францевич Канкрин) (16 November 1774 – 10 September 1845) was a Russian aristocrat and politician best known for spearheading reforms in the Russian financial system early in the 19th century.

Biography

Kankrin was born Ludwig Daniel von Cancrin in Hanau.

In 1797, at the age of 23, Kankrin accompanied his father, the mineralogist Franz Ludwig von Cancrin, to Russia, joining the imperial service and changing his name to Georg.

In 1823, at the age of 49, Kankrin was appointed Minister of Finance and held that office for 21 years. As a politician, Cancrin was an archconservative who vociferated against the construction of railways and the emancipation of the serfs.

Kankrin died in Pavlovsk.

Legacy

Among Kankrin's writings, The Military Economy (published in German) is the best regarded.

Kankrin's policies often sought to maintain the status quo due to the limitations of the Russian government in carrying out large scale economic reform. Because of his conservatism, he advanced loans to the gentry class in order to preserve, in the words of the historian Walter Pintner, "the social status quo". With a view toward limiting state expenditure, he refused to credit the Russian industry, thus eliminating the budget deficits that plagued the Russian economy for decades. Private banks were forbidden, and every step was taken to stymie the development of capitalism.

Financial reforms of 1839–1843

Kankrin's major achievement was the monetary reform of 1839–43 which sanitized the Russian fiscal system. The reform started with the issue of a new silver rouble equal to 3.5 of the older Assignation ruble. Then, based on the silver roubles, new deposit notes were issued. Finally, the old Assignation rubles were removed from circulation in 1843, and replaced with the new banknotes. These reforms stabilised the Russian financial system considerably.

References

External links

• Kankrin monetary reform at the Wayback Machine (archived September 28, 2007)