The Russian press quickly labeled Tuesday Black Tuesday, which is a reference to the Tuesday back in October 1994 when the ruble lost a third of its value the dollar in one day. Although Russian stock market developments on September 16, 2008 were quite different, the connections to that day 14 years ago are inevitable for what the latest developments mean in terms of growth in Russia.

On this latest Black Tuesday, confidences over growth in Russia were dashed as stock markets fell drastically: the MICEX by 17.45% and the RTS by 11.47%. Because of such fever pitch selling, trading had to be suspended until the end of the working day, when on Wednesday, the declining market carried on and trading was suspended yet again.

The fall of the Russian stock market may affect growth in Russia in two ways

Not many Russians had invested their money in the stock market and so …