Abstract
In the 1930s, when the classical socialist system emerged, economic decisions were based not on detailed and precise economic methods of calculation but on rough and ready political methods. An important method of economic calculation – particularly in the post-Stalin period – was that of incrementalism. Input norms were a very important method of both inter-industry and consumption planning. Material balances, and later input–output, were also widely used. Project evaluation, linear programming, comparisons with the West, and economic intuition were other methods used. The influence of methods of economic calculation on economic outcomes should not be exaggerated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Agababyan, E., and Ye Yakovleva, eds. 1979. Problemy raspredeleniya i rost narodnogo blagosostoyaniya. Moscow: Nauka.
Birman, I. 1978. From the achieved level. Soviet Studies 30 (2): 153–172.
Birman, I. 1996. Otraslevoe optimal’noe. Ch. 9 of Ya –ekonomist. Novosibirsk: EKOR.
Boltho, A. 1971. Foreign trade criteria in socialist economies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellman, M. 1973. Planning problems in the USSR: The contribution of mathematical economics to their solution 1960–1971. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ellman, M. 1983. Changing views on central planning: 1958–1983. ACES Bulletin [now Comparative Economic Studies] 25 (1): 11–34.
Gács, J., and M. Lackó. 1973. A study of planning behaviour on the national-economic level. Economics of Planning 13: 91–119.
Giffen, J. 1981. The allocation of investment in the Soviet Union. Soviet Studies 33 (4): 593–609.
Granick, D. 1990. Planning as coordination. Ch. 3 of Chinese state enterprises. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gregory, P., and M. Harrison. 2005. Allocation under dictatorship: Research in Stalin’s archives. Journal of Economic Literature 43: 721–761.
Kornai, J. 1967. Mathematical planning of structural decisions. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kornai, J. 1980. Economics of shortage, 2 vols. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kornai, J. 1992. Planning and direct bureaucratic control. Ch. 7 of The socialist system. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kueh, Y. 1985. Economic planning and local mobilization in post-Mao China. London: Contemporary China Institute.
Kushnirsky, F. 1982. Soviet economic planning, 1965–1980. Boulder: Westview, ch. 4.
Lazarev, V., and P. Gregory. 2003. Commissars and cars: A case study in the political economy of dictatorship. Journal of Comparative Economics 31: 1–19.
Lemeshev, M. 1968. Mezhotraslevye svyazi sel’skogo khozyaistva. Moscow: Ekonomika.
Levine, H. 1959. The centralized planning of supply in Soviet industry. In Comparisons of the United States and Soviet Economies. Washington, DC: Joint Economic Committee, US Congress.
Malinovskii, B. 1995. Istoriya vychislitel’noi tekhniki v litsakh. Kyiv: KIT/A.S.K.
Matekon. 1978. Standard methodology for calculations to optimize the development and location of production in the long run. 15(1): 75–96.
Qian, Y., G. Roland, and C. Xu. 2000. Coordinating activities under alternative organizational forms. In Planning, shortage, and transformation, ed. E. Maskin and A. Simonovits. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Shlykov, V. 2004. The economics of defense in Russia and the legacy of structural militarization. In The Russian military, ed. S. Miller and D. Trenin. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Stalin, J. 1952. Concerning the errors of comrade L.D. Yaroshenko. In Economic problems of socialism in the USSR. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Tretyakova, A., and I. Birman. 1976. Input–output analysis in the USSR. Soviet Studies 28 (2): 157–186.
Weitzman, P. 1974. Soviet long term consumption planning: Distribution according to rational need. Soviet Studies 26 (3): 305–321.
World Bank. 1992. China: Reform and the role of the plan in the 1990s. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ellman, M. (2018). Economic Calculation in Socialist Countries. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_343
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_343
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences