Long story short, I'm writing a paper, and while the topic of my paper is not the state of the Russian economy pre-revolution, it is pertinent to my topic and I'm just looking for some further reading on it. Thank you.
привет!, Russian historian here!
Sadly I don't know of a single book that does what you want, however I have an assortment of suggestions to help get you started at least.
First off, an often suggest book here and by me, would be A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes. He discusses the economic problems of Imperial Russia, starting back at the Serf emancipation and describing how its long term effects help crumble one of the pillars of society. However, the book is dealing with the Revolution at large, so its not comprehensive in economic history, however it is a good start nonetheless. I believe he has an entire section devoted to economic problems in the first half of the book.
The second would be the first chapters of Alec Nove's An Economic History of the USSR 1917-1991. His main goal is looking at post-Revolution, however his beginning chapters will be good to kind of get an idea of the baseline, or the finality of economics in the Russian Empire. Very table heavy, and with a ton of figures.
I would also, although I haven't read it myself, would look at a book by Abraham Ascher called P.A. Stolypin: The Search for Stability in Late Imperial Russia. Stoypin as you'll find out was a major figure in economics and will be a good place to start, as well. Stoypin saw the problems with the economy of Russia, especially in regards to peasants and nobles, and was pushing for reform. He was later assassinated (spoilers).
Finally, I would be amiss if I did not mention a primary source that would be invaluable when discussing this period. I would suggest reading The Development of Capitalism in Russia by V. Lenin. You can find it for free online.
Hope this helps, and if anyone else has any suggestions feel free to put them here as well. This is not a comprehensive list by no means.
I will second the Ascher text on Stolypin, it's an excellent biography on one of the last energetic tsarist ministers.
Liberal Reform in an Illiberal Regime: The Creation of Private Property in Russia, 1906-1915 by Stephen Williams is a critique of Stolypin's land reform from the perspective of an American conservative. Williams is important to look at even if one does not buy into all of his arguments because he brings up a fundamental question of economic reform's efficacy when there is no equivalent political reform.
Alfred Rieber's Merchants and Entrepreneurs in Imperial Russia is less of an economic history but more of a social history of economic elite within the tsarist state. It's one of the essential text on imperial Russia and Rieber explains how the tsarist-imposed social system created a capitalist order that was fundamentally different than other industrial capitalist states.
In addition to the Lenin primary source, another one to check out is The Memoirs of Count Witte, available from various publishers. Sergei Witte was one of the architects of Russian industrialization, especially the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Like Lenin's The Development of Capitalism in Russia, it is far from an unbiased account, but he it's a valuable look into the mentality of an economically-focused minister who decided to work within the autocratic system rather than against it or fundamentally reform it.
You know, I thought I had more on this subject but apparently not. Recommendations:
In terms of pure economic works, Davies et al's The Economic Transformation of the Soviet Union starts with an outline of the Tsarist economy. Like Nove, it's a launch pad for a much more detailed discussion on the Soviet economy but is worth reading. Actually, both are if you have any interest in the Soviet economy. I'm less enamoured with Allen's Farm to Factory, which presents a (flawed) comparison with pre-Revolution agriculture but it has some good detail on the latter (specifically crop yields, etc).
Again, Smith's Red Petrograd is largely concerned with the post-1917 period but it does begin with one of the more detailed examinations of the Russian urban economy/workforce in the late Tsarist period. I can recommend a couple of works on the Russian peasantry but few of them go into detail on economics (and this is covered in most general histories anyway).
Speaking of general histories, I've just recalled that Waldron's The End of Imperial Russia has a chapter on the Tsarist economy. It's a good introductory book which may suffice if you're not interested in getting stuck into detail.
And while I would second Lenin's Development of Capitalism in Russia, do keep in mind that there was a clear agenda behind the book. Simplifying, Lenin's purpose was to demonstrate that, contrary to Narodnik claims, a Marxist movement/revolution was viable in Russia because Russia was now a capitalist state. That is, feudalism was dying and capitalist market relations had already taken hold in the countryside. It's a good work but this does lead Lenin to downplay the stability and role of the peasant commune and economy.