The Library

Trends in Soviet labour productivity 1928–85 : war, postwar recovery, and slowdown

Tools

Harrison, Mark, 1949-. (1998) Trends in Soviet labour productivity 1928–85 : war, postwar recovery, and slowdown. European Review of Economic History, Vol.2 (No.2). pp. 171-200. ISSN 1361-4916

[img]
Preview
 PDF
WRAP_Harrison_7470248-161008-ereh98postprint.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (222Kb)

Abstract

Understanding the pattern of postwar slowdown in Soviet productivity growth requires evaluation of the impact of World War II and associated shocks. Continuous productivity series for industry and the whole economy are estimated for the period 1928–85. The pattern of Soviet productivity growth was highly disturbed; by postwar standards its underlying growth was slow. Rapid growth and slowdown from the late 1940s through the 1960s and beyond are explained just by postwar recovery possibilities and their exhaustion. Clear evidence of an adverse break in the productivity trend does not transpire until the 1970s.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
D History General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Soviet Union -- Economic conditions -- 20th century, Industrial productivity -- Soviet Union
Journal or Publication Title: European Review of Economic History
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISSN: 1361-4916
Date: 1998
Volume: Vol.2
Number: No.2
Page Range: pp. 171-200
Status: Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version: Open Access
Funder: International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (INTAS)
Grant number: INTAS–93–2487
References: BARBER, J.D., and DAVIES, R.W. (1994). Employment and industrial labour. In R.W. Davies, M. Harrison, and S.G. Wheatcroft (eds), The economic transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 81–105 BARRO, R.J., and SALA–I–MARTIN, X. (1992). Convergence. Journal of Political Economy 100, 223–51 BECKER, A. S.,MOORSTEEN, R., and POWELL, R. P. (1968). The Soviet capital stock: revisions and extensions, 1961–1967. In Two supplements to Richard Moorsteen and Raymond P. Powell, The Soviet capital stock, 1928–1962. Yale University, The Economic Growth Center BERGSON, A. (1961). The real national income of Soviet Russia since 1928. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, MA CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (1990). Measures of Soviet gross national product in 1982 prices. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office CRAFTS, N.F.R., andMILLS, T.C. (1996). Europe's golden age: an econometric investigation of changing trend rates of growth. In B. van Ark and N.F.R. Crafts (eds), Quantitative aspects of Europe's postwar growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 415–31 DENISON, E.F. (1967). Why growth rates differ: postwar experience in nine western countries. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution EASTERLY, W., and FISCHER, S. (1995). The Soviet economic decline. World Bank Economic Review 9, 341–71 EHRLICH, É. (1991). Contest between countries: 1937–1986. Soviet Studies 43, 875– 896 ELLMAN, M., and MAKSUDOV, S. (1994). Soviet deaths in the Great Patriotic War: a note. Europe–Asia Studies 46, 671–80 EVANS, L.T. (1995). What can univariate models tell us about Canadian economic growth, 1870–1985? Explorations in Economic History 32, 236–52 GATRELL, P., and DAVIES, R.W. (1990). The industrial economy. In R.W. Davies (ed.), From Tsarism to the New Economic Policy: continuity and change in the economy of the USSR. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 127–59 GREGORY, P.R. (1982). Russian national income, 1885–1913. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press GREGORY, P.R. (1990). National income. In R.W. Davies (ed.), From Tsarism to the New Economic Policy: continuity and change in the economy of the USSR. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 237–47 GREGORY, P.R. (1994). Before command: an economic history of Russia from Emancipation to the first Five–Year Plan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press GREGORY, P.R., and STUART, R.C. (1994). Soviet and post–Soviet economic structure and performance, 5th edn. London: Harper & Row GREGORY, P.R., and ZOTEEV, G. (1991). Ekonomicheskii rost: sravnitel’nyi analiz khoziaistvennykh sistem (Rossiia–SSSR). Kommunist 1991 (no. 1), 65–76 GROSSMAN, G. (1953). Scarce capital and Soviet doctrine. Quarterly Journal of Economics 67, 311–43 GROSSMAN, G. (1958). Thirty years of Soviet industrialization. Soviet Survey 26 (October–December), 15–21 HARRISON, M. (1991). Ob ekonomicheskom roste do revoliutsii i posle nee. Kommunist 1991 (no. 9), 118–20 HARRISON, M. (1994a). Russian and Soviet economic growth reassessed in the light of new growth theory. University of Warwick, Department of Economics, Working Paper Series no. 9404 HARRISON, M. (1994b). National income. In R.W. Davies, M. Harrison, and S.G. Wheatcroft (eds), The economic transformation of the Soviet Union, 1913–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 38–56 HARRISON, M. (1996a). Accounting for war: Soviet production, employment, and the defence burden, 1940–1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press HARRISON, M. (1996b). Trends in Soviet labour productivity, 1928–1985: what the record shows. University of Warwick, Department of Economics, Working Paper Series, no. 9605 INWOOD, K., and STENGOS, T. (1991). Discontinuities in Canadian economic growth, 1870–1985. Explorations in Economic History 28, 274–86 INWOOD, K., and STENGOS, T. (1995). Segmented trend models of Canadian economic growth. Explorations in Economic History 32, 253–61 JÁNOSSY , F. (1971). The end of the economic miracle: appearance and reality in economic development. White Plains, NY: International Arts and Sciences Press JASNY, N. (1961). Soviet industrialization, 1928–1952. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press LEVINE, R., and RENELT, D. (1992). A sensitivity analysis of cross–country growth regressions. American Economic Review 82, 942–63 LINZ, S.J. (1980). Economic origins of the Cold War? An examination of the carryover costs of World War II to the Soviet people. Unpub. PhD thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign MADDISON, A. (1995). Monitoring the world economy, 1820–1992. Paris: OECD MANKIW, N.G., ROMER, D., and WEILL, D, (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 407–37 MARER, P. (1985). Dollar GNPs of the USSR and eastern Europe. Baltimore, MD, and London: Johns Hopkins University Press MILLAR, J.R., and LINZ, S.J. (1978). The cost of World War II to the Soviet people. Journal of Economic History 38, 959–62 MOORSTEEN, R., and POWELL, R.P. (1966). The Soviet capital stock, 1928–1962. Homewood, IL: Irwin OFER, G. (1987). Soviet economic growth: 1928–1985. Journal of Economic Literature 25, 1767–833 PERRON, P. (1989). The Great Crash, the oil price shock, and the unit root hypothesis. Econometrica 57, 1361–1401 POWELL, R.P. (1968). The Soviet capital stock and related series for the war years. In Two supplements to Richard Moorsteen and Raymond P. Powell, The Soviet capital stock, 1928–1962. Yale University, The Economic Growth Center RAPAWY, S. (1987). Labor force and employment in the USSR. In United States Congress, Joint Economic Committee, Gorbachev’s economic plans, vol. 1. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office SCHROEDER, G.E. (1985). The slowdown in Soviet industry, 1976-1982. Soviet Economy 1, 42–74 TAMARCHENKO, M.L. (1967). Sovetskie finansy v period Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny. Moscow: Finansy ZALESKI, E. (1971). Planning for economic growth in the Soviet Union, 1918–1932. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press ZALESKI, E. (1980). Stalinist planning for economic growth, 1933–1952. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan.
URI: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/215

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...