Underlying Economic Weakness (State Economy 1985) Flashcards
What were the problems of a command economy?
It was seemingly inefficient. America was producing 6% more than Soviet farms.
What were the issues behind the arms race?
The Soveit economy had to compete in the arms race with the US. Producing new sophisticated weapons came at a huge cost. In the 1970s the annual groth averaged 2%, by 1980 this dropped to 0.6%
How did a lack of incentives cause economic weakness?
The gap between the rich and poor was much smaller than in the west. This meant that even if people worked hard they would not be as well rewarded through pay, therefore people did not work harder.
How did waste cause economic weakness?
The quality of good was irrelevant which meant that many of the produced goods were ultimately useless as they were of bad quality. This lead to lots of waste.
How did a failure to modernise add to the economic weakness of the USSR?
Soviet agriculture lacked sophisticated machinery and meant more hard labour was required than in the West. In the 1960s, 25.4% of soviet workers were employed in farms while America only had 4.6% of the population in farms.
What did the Novosibirsk Report state?
It was published in 1982 and stated that the Soviet Union was on its way to collapse. Despite the warning the Politburo members either ignored it or simply didn’t understand.
