"Fatalistic" is not a bad way to describe it. I think Russians are resistant to change, even a good one. Living in harsh environment would make you so. You'd rather fight the daemons that you know than close the portal, and who knows what comes out of that.

I'm thinking economics.

It's one thing, certainly: like the phrase that cropped up in a conversation with another groupmate goes, "Money don't buy happiness, but having them certainly relieves tension in life".

The article also points out that freedom — of choice, of expression — matters in one's happiness. If you feel stuck in life — the kind of modernized serfdom — even immense amount of money may not be more than a quick fix, to distract you from the cage one finds oneself in.

Maybe the two are related. Imagine wanting to move from the Soviet-era house to a better, modern apartment (there are новостройки — the new housings — all over the country) but not being able to afford it. There's a phrase in Russian: "morally outdated", meaning something's behind the technological progress in a big way. Many of the Khrushchev-era flats are this: there were built in the 60s.