The first 35 years of Soviet living standards: Secular growth and conjunctural crises in a time of famines

Wheatcroft, Stephen G.

doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2008.06.002

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Plots of the mean height of the Dutch, Swedes, Italians, and French trace out longlarge, persistent reversal like that observed for the United States. Plots of mean heights (not shown) of Russians (Mironov 1995;Wheatcroft 2009), Bulgarians (Popoff 1926), Spaniards (Ayuda and Puche-Gil 2014), and Japanese (Shay 1994) drawn from large, representative conscript samples all trend upward after 1800 without large or persistent reversals. Despite Komlos' (1998b, p. 236) contention that the industrialization puzzle is not a "statistical artefact [sic]," its regular appearance in selected samples (e.g., military volunteers, prisoners, students) and its failure to appear in representative conscript samples raises questions about whether the puzzle is an artifact of selected samples.…”

Section: The Industrialization Puzzle In An American Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Sample-Selection Biases and the Industrialization Puzzle

Bodenhorn¹,

Guinnane²,

Mroz³

2017

J. Econ. Hist.

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Understanding long-term changes in human well-being is central to understanding the consequences of economic development. An extensive anthropometric literature purports to show that heights in the United States declined between the 1830s and the 1890s, which is when the U.S. economy modernized. Most anthropometric research contends that declining heights reflect the negative health consequences of industrialization and urbanization. This interpretation, however, relies on sources subject to selection bias. Our meta-analysis shows that the declining height during industrialization emerges primarily in selected samples. We also develop a parsimonious diagnostic test that reveals, but does not correct for, selection bias in height samples. When applied to four representative height samples, the diagnostic provides compelling evidence of selection.

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Section: The Industrialization Puzzle In An American Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Sample-Selection Biases and the Industrialization Puzzle

Bodenhorn¹,

Guinnane²,

Mroz³

2017

J. Econ. Hist.

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“…19 As a signal of the changing situation, Popov was sacked in December 1925 because of his refusal to follow Party recommendations regarding agricultural output data. He was replaced by Nikolai Osinskii who did not enjoy a better fate; he was forced to resign in early 1928 for the same reasons, and arrested and shot in 1936 (Wheatcroft 2009). 20 Because of the ongoing disputes within the Party about the course of the economy, this task was also undertaken by VSNKh.…”

Section: The Foundations Of a Planned Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 24 The Soviet Union continued to have very good data during that period. «In most cases the data themselves were not distorted, it was only the political conclusions from these data that were distorted, and that is precisely why the detailed data was declared secret and not allowed to be published» (Wheatcroft 2009, p. 27).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development Economics and the Russian Revolution: The Soviet Industrialisation Debate

Oyarzún

2018

RHE / JILAEH

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After the triumph of the October Revolution in Russia the issue of how to develop a backward economy towards a socialist society took pre-eminence. The relationship between agriculture and industry was one of the key issues. In this respect, the Left Opposition argued in favour of a Big Push for industrialisation financed through the exploitation of the peasantry, while the Right Deviation defended adjusting industrial growth to the development of the agricultural surplus. The First 5-Year Plan meant the complete victory of one of these positions. Unfortunately, all discussions were banned subsequently, the leading figures of these two factions were expelled from the Party and many of them executed. Yet, this problem was of the utmost importance for underdeveloped countries, as Development Economics was to discover 25 years later. This new branch of Economics would have benefitted greatly from the lessons of the Soviet experience regarding industrialisation, as well as from the theoretical discussions surrounding it.

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“…That said, Komlos and collaborators have been writing for several years about a Malthusian crisis that occurred in Europe near the end of the eighteen century (Komlos and Heintel 1999;Komlos, Hau et al 2003;Cinnirella 2008a). Interesting papers have also been written on the consequences for young adult stature of phylloxera (an insect that attacks the roots of grape vines) in late nineteenth-century France (Banerjee, Duflo et al 2007); of social and economic turmoil in Mexico and the American Southwest (Carson 2005); agrarian reforms and crises in Poland (Kopczynski 2007); the burden of taxes in late eighteenth century Russia (Mironov and A'Hearn 2008); political and economic upheaval during the first 35 years of Soviet power (Wheatcroft 2009) and in Russia in the 1990s (Mironov 2007;Stillman and Thomas 2008); and the shocks of World War I and the Great Depression on heights in Argentina (Salvatore 2004a).…”

Section: Crises In Social Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current review considers 225 height studies that have a clear geographic focus and among these the United States (21.3%) and Northwest Europe (30.7%) continue to dominate, but a substantial number of publications also appear for Southern Europe (6.2%); Eastern Europe and Russia (8.0%); South America (10.2%); Africa (8.0%); and Asia (11.6%). In this spirit, the special issue reflects the current global nature of the field, with two papers on England and one each on Argentina, China, the Middle East, Russia and the United States (Carson 2009;Horrell, Meredith et al 2009;Humphries and Leunig 2009b;Morgan 2009;Salvatore 2009;Stegl and Baten 2009;Wheatcroft 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%