On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 11:55:40AM -0400, Shane Mage wrote:
> Chris asks:
> >
> >The USSR in the years under Stalin's reign had an estimated GDP growth of
> >300% in 30 years (I'm going by stats cited in the Russian business magazine
> >Kommersant), even taking into accountthe ravages caused to agriculture by
> >forced collectivization, destruction of 40% of the USSR's productive
> >capacity by the Nazis, and an additional shock brought about by moving from
> >a wartime policy in 1945-1946.
> >
> >Are there any historical parallels to this rate of growth?
>
> Growth of 300% over 30 years amounts to an annual growth
> rate of less than 5%. China over the past 30 years has
> done much, much, better than that--especially considering
> that Russia in 1923 was far from having regained its
> 1914 level (reached only in 1926). Of course this also
> leaves out all the problematical aspects of Stalin-era "statistics."
>
> Shane Mage
>
> "Thunderbolt steers all
> things."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr. 64
>
>
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu