Russian language skills and employment in the Former Soviet Union

During the Soviet era, proficiency in the Russian language was often a ticket to attractive employment opportunities in the member republics. Does it still contribute to securing employment in the former Soviet republics after two decades of transition? Using data from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the years 2008–2010, this paper demonstrates that Russian language skills remain economically valuable. The baseline estimates suggest that Russian language skills increase probability of employment by about 6 (males) and 9 (females) percentage points. Our results bear important implications for the ongoing debates on language policies in the post‐Soviet countries.     

二战期间苏联核战略启动决策述论——基于苏联解密档案的研究

第二次世界大战期间,苏联就是否启动核战略工程进行研究和决策。二战初期,苏联领导人并不重视核武器的研究,而在1941年6月22日遭到德国法西斯入侵后更是集中全力进行卫国战争。一部分具有远见的苏联科学家不断呼吁苏联领导层重视核武器研制,苏联间谍机构也提供了大量关于英美等国核研究的重要情报,这些因素促使苏联领导层逐渐重视核武器的研制。而在美国核垄断的威胁下,苏联领导人最终作出决策,启动了苏联的核战略工程。     

中国与东欧及前苏联的经济改革比较——杰弗里·萨克斯对中国经济改革的论述

美国经济学家杰弗里·萨克斯对中国的经济改革进程做了大量的实证分析,并与东欧及前苏联的经济改革经验相比较,得出了许多有益的观点。文章主要是对中国与东欧及前苏联改革经验的比较进行综述与评价。     

由苏联实践引发的社会主义模式再思考

在近百年社会主义的实践中,由于对马克思主义理解上的不同,导致人们对社会主义模式争论不休。对苏联社会主义模式的评判就是这种分歧和争论的集中表现。考茨基和托洛茨基作为苏联社会主义模式构建的见证者和亲历者,从民主社会主义的角度对苏联模式提出了尖锐批评。当今中国模式虽然不同于苏联模式,但由于历史的渊源关系,不可避免地带有苏联模式的部分印迹。考茨基和托洛茨基等人对苏联模式的批判对中国社会主义模式的完善具有借鉴和参考价值。当前的中国模式所表现出来的主要问题,特别是收入分配不公平等问题,也可以从民主社会主义实践那里得到借鉴。     

The Development of Commodity Exchanges in the Former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China

The virtual collapse of the centrally planned economies of the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the more gradual transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy in China were both accompanied by the opening of hundreds of exchanges trading many agricultural, resource, and other physical commodities. Although many viewed them as harbingers of full-fledged market-based economies, most of the new exchanges in fact have since closed either for lack of activity or by government intervention, a history that this paper documents. New exchanges faced numerous obstacles in sustaining interest, from developing standardised contract terms to establishing effective self-regulation and state regulatory oversight. In several countries, the transparency of transactions on exchanges attracted governments interested in collecting taxes and customs duties which only drove trade away from the exchanges or turned them into little more than state agencies. In China, regulators struggled with duplicative exchanges and products, price volatility, large speculative interest, and several manipulations and have recently reduced the number of exchanges to just three and severely limited the commodities traded. There have been some successes too, including (at least prospectively) the three remaining exchanges in China, the Budapest Commodity Exchange in Hungary, and the Poznan Commodity Exchange in Poland. For all, identifying the terms to create standardised contracts has been (and continues to be) a major challenge.     

New Private Enterprises in Three Transitional Contexts: Central Europe,the Former Soviet Union and China

This article compares the new private businesses that have been created in three transitional (from communism) contexts: Central Europe (Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine) and Asia (China). There have been major differences among these world regions in the contexts created for the development of new enterprises: in the pace of change, the extent to which state control and the rule of law have been maintained or created, whether there has been economic growth, decline or stagnation, the degrees of political continuity and the length of the communist period. Despite the contrasting contexts, there have been many similarities in the characteristics of new private businesses, but alongside some major differences: in the types of business with which beginners have usually commenced, the match with their specialities, whether self-employment has normally been a full-time or part-time occupation, whether or not the state has been perceived as basically supportive, in uses of the second economies and bribery, and whether sole proprietorship or partnership has been the normal initial business arrangement. It is concluded that there are just two essential conditions for successful transition (as regards the development of small business sectors): economic growth and the rule of law. Thereafter everything seems to depend on creating a favourable configuration of conditions which, our evidence suggests, is most likely when countries have maximum scope to plot their own transitional routes. It is argued that imposing one allegedly correct approach will usually be counter-productive.     

普罗科菲耶夫论前苏联的改革

本文从三个方面分析了前苏联改革.(1)前苏联改革失误主要是决策随意,所通过的决议、法律不是巩固发展而是破坏经济、社会和文化.(2)苏共垮台的主要原因是党内没有民主化,党的上层领导蓄意、千方百计地搞垮党,党自身也有弱点.(3)前苏联解体的原因是不按经济规律办事,企业和科研机构的激励机制、制度有缺陷,煤矿工人罢工,民族问题,国家发展战略失误,上层领导任意违宪,西方因素,等等.     

Cooption and Repression in the Soviet Union

The Soviet ruling elite, the nomenklatura, used both cooption and political repression to encourage loyalty to the communist regime. Loyalty was critical both in defusing internal opposition to the rule of the nomenklatura and in either deterring or defeating foreign enemies of the Soviet Union. The cost of coopting people into the Communist Party was a decrease in the standard of living of members of the nomenklatura, whereas the cost of political repression was the danger that members of the nomenklatura would themselves be victimized. We assume that the nomenklatura determined the extent of cooption and the intensity of political repression by equating perceived marginal benefits and marginal costs. We use this assumption to construct an account of the historical evolution of policies of cooption and political repression in the Soviet Union.     

Inspiration vs. perspiration in economic development of the Former Soviet Union and China (ca. 1920–2010)

Here, we discuss the role of both perspiration factors (physical and human capital) and inspiration factors (Total Factor Productivity) in the economic development of the Former Soviet Union area (FSU) and China, ca. 1920–2010. Using a newly created dataset, we find that during the Socialist central‐planning period, economic growth in both countries was largely driven by physical capital accumulation. This finding follows logically from the development policies in place at that time. During their transition periods, (i.e., starting from the late 1970s in China and the late 1980s in the FSU), China managed to keep technical inefficiency of production factors in check, largely by massively increasing its human capital, thereby lowering the physical‐to‐human capital ratio. In contrast, the FSU accomplished a similar outcome largely through reducing its stock of physical capital. As a result, although there was little difference in technical efficiency between these two economies, China's emphasis on human capital formation made it easier for this country to improve its general productivity and to increase per capita growth. This changed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the FSU began to recover economically, regaining its 1990 levels of output and productivity.     

中苏农业合作（集体）化初中和比较分析

中国和苏联的农业合作(集体)化实践的过程和结果基本一样，都是急风暴雨式的强制性制度变迁过程，都导致了农民生产积极性和农业生产效率的下降；其背景也基本相似：都是小农经济的国度；但其国情也有不少不同之处。对这种差异的分析表明，当时的中国更不应该、更不可能走上合作化之路。     

Investment growth fluctuations in the Soviet Union: An econometric analysis

This paper investigates the determinants of overall investment growth in the Soviet Union by means of an econometric analysis using data for 1959–1982. Theory suggests that investment growth responds to structural pressures toward high growth and to the intensities of shortage in the economy. Econometric results are encouraging since the fitted variable follows, with the exception of 1966, all peaks and troughs of investment growth.     

Repressed inflation in the Soviet Union: A temporary equilibrium approach

The Soviet economy is modeled by means of temporary general equilibrium theory. Three temporary equilibrium states are distinguished. In Walrasian equilibrium, all markets clear. Under repressed inflation, there is excess consumer demand for goods marketed by the state, while consumer demand is deficient in the underconsumption regime. The dynamics of these temporary equilibrium states are studied and the dynamic adjustment equations fitted to Soviet data. Simulation of the model offers an explanation for the tendency of the inventories/cash balances ratio to fall since 1965.     

近代中国从俄苏引进农业技术及其影嘀考论

近代中国通过从俄苏进口农业机械、良种、聘请专家、向其派遣留学生以及两国侨民、边民往来、俄商在华兴办农牧场、农产品加工厂等途径与方式引进农业技术,其应用推广引起生产方式变革,推动区域农业生产和近代化发展,并在一些方面为新中国初期引进与应用推广苏联农业技术奠定基础。