Soviet National Income 1958-1964

National Accounts of the USSR in the Seven Year Plan period

Abraham S. Becker

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520321533
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520321540
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Conditions
• Index: Economics

Soviet National Income, 1958–1964: National Accounts of the USSR in the Seven Year Plan Period by Abraham S. Becker offers a rigorous reconstruction and analysis of Soviet national income during a critical juncture in postwar economic history. Using the Soviet National Income and Product (SNIP) accounting framework pioneered by Abram Bergson and colleagues, Becker presents independently compiled accounts for each year of 1958–1964 and for the plan year 1965 as originally envisioned in the Seven Year Plan (SYP). By reworking household income and expenditure flows, public sector financing, investment, and capital-output relationships, the study provides a comprehensive portrait of the Soviet economy under Khrushchev. Central to the analysis are the difficulties of valuation in a command economy—distorted prices, turnover taxes, subsidies, and agricultural price disparities—and the adjustments necessary to approximate factor cost and constant-price measures. These methodological refinements allow Becker to chart growth trends, resource allocation, and structural change with unusual precision, while also probing the limits of Soviet statistical transparency. The results reveal both the ambitions and contradictions of the Seven Year Plan era. Growth slowed markedly compared to the rapid postwar decades, with per capita gains narrowing and agricultural stagnation undermining official targets. Military expenditures remained significant, though their accounting was obscured by budgetary categories. Investment continued at high rates but yielded diminishing returns, reflected in rising capital-output ratios. By juxtaposing ex ante SYP goals with ex post outcomes, Becker highlights the gap between Soviet planners' aspirations and economic realities, showing how policy adjustments responded to agricultural shortfalls, shifting defense priorities, and fiscal pressures. Comparative chapters situate Soviet performance within broader international trends, contrasting consumption, investment, and structural change with those of Western economies. The study concludes that the economic retardation of the SYP years was not merely cyclical but symptomatic of deeper inefficiencies in Soviet planning and valuation practices, setting the stage for the hesitant reforms of the mid-1960s. For scholars of comparative economic systems, Becker's work remains a foundational examination of how to measure—and interpret—growth in a socialist command economy. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1969.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Preface
• A NOTE ON TABLES, REFERENCES, AND RUBLE VALUES
• Contents 1
• 1 Introduction Purpose of the Study
• NATIONAL INCOME 1958-1964
• SYP AND SNIP
• Plan of the Work
• 2 National Income and Product at Established Prices
• The Accounting System
• SECTORING
• PRODUCTION BOUNDARIES
• IMPUTATIONS
• Income and Outlay Categories
• Reliability of the 1958-1964 Estimates
• HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND OUTLAYS
• THE PUBLIC SECTORS
• SNIP AND OFFICIAL SOVIET INCOME ESTIMATES
• The Meaning of SNIP 1965S
• SCOPE OF THE “SEVEN YEAR PLAN”
• ORIGINAL VERSUS REVISED GOALS
• PRICES
• 3 The Problem of Valuation
• Production Potential at a Point in Time and the AFCS
• The AFCS and Soviet Prices
• TURNOVER TAXES; NONAGRICULTURAL RENT
• INTEREST AND PROFITS
• SUBSIDIES
• DEPRECIATION
• FARM PRICES
• AGRICULTURAL—NONAGRICULTURAL INCOME DIFFERENTIALS
• WAGES
• SUMMARY
• Growth of Production Potential
• 4 Incomes and Outlays at Current Prevailing Prices
• Sectoral Incomes and Outlays INCOMES OF HOUSEHOLDS
• HOUSEHOLD SPENDING PATTERNS
• SOURCES OF PUBLIC SECTOR FINANCE
• PUBLIC SECTOR OUTLAYS
• A SENSITIVITY TEST
• The State Budget and GNP
• 5 Resource Allocation: National Product at Current Factor Cost
• The Basic Factor Cost Series
• Adjustments of the Basic Factor Cost Series
• 6 Growth: National Product at Constant Prices
• Growth of EP and Basic AFC Series INDEXES OF GROWTH
• AVERAGE ANNUAL RATES OF GROWTH
• GNP at Constant Factor Cost: Supplementary Adjustments
• Rates of Growth, 1958-1964: Summary
• Growth Per Capita
• 7 Military Outlays
• The Scope of “Defense”
• Military Outlays in Other Budget Categories
• Military Outlays in the NMP Accounts
• “Defense” Versus Military Outlays
• A Concluding Reflection
• 8 Investment, Capital, and Output
• Sectoral Distribution and Growth of Investment
• Investment and Output THE RATE OF INVESTMENT
• CAPITAL-OUTPUT RATIOS
• Addendum to Chapter 8 Relationships Between the Two Methods of Calculating Fixed Capital Increments
• 9 1965S: Tile SYP and Its Implementation
• Sectoral Incomes and Outlays HOUSEHOLDS
• PUBLIC SECTOR INCOMES
• PUBLIC SECTOR OUTLAYS
• SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION OF GNP
• Resource Allocation at Current Prices
• SYP Growth Objectives and Their Fulfillment
• Capital, Investment and Output
• 10 Comparisons with Other Calculations
• Structure of Final Use
• Consumption
• Investment
• Aggregate Output
• Sources of Divergences in Table 40
• BRANCH INDEXES
• THE WEIGHTS
• CONCLUSION
• 11 Intertemporal and International Comparisons
• Soviet Economic Growth Since 1950
• International Growth Comparisons, 1950-1964
• Longer Period Comparisons of Soviet GNP Structure
• Resource Allocation in Noncommunist Countries, 1950-1964
• Soviet Capital-Output Ratios, 1950-1964
• 12 Summary and Conclusions
• Summary of Findings
• THE VALUATION PROBLEM
• MEASUREMENT OF THE RATE OF GROWTH
• SECTORAL INCOMES AND OUTLAYS
• STRUCTURE AND GROWTH OF THE ECONOMY
• The Growth of Production Potential
• The Seven Year Plan in Retrospect
• THE SYP AS PLAN
• PLAN AND FULFILLMENT
• Appendixes
• A Sources to Table 1: 1958-1964
• Sources to Table 2: 1958-1964
• Sources to Table 3: 1958-1964
• D Sources to Table 4: 1958-1964
• E Sources to Table 1: 1965S
• F Sources to Table 2: 1965S
• G Sources to Table 3: 1965S
• H Sources to Table 4: 1965S
• I Profits, Losses, and Subsidies in the State Sector
• J Factor Cost Adjustments: Basic Series
• K The Deflation of GNP by Use at Established Prices and Factor Costs
• L The Deflation of State-Cooperative Inventory Investment
• M The Sensitivity of Various Series to the Magnitude of Public Sector Revenues
• N On the Reliability of Aggregate Household Incomes and Outlays
• O Calculation of tKe Relative Undervaluation of Collective Farmer Incomes
• P Sources to Table 26
• Q Public Sector Residuai Outlays in 1965S and NMP by Final Use
• Bibliography
• Index