Soviet-type Planning as a Development Strategy

In describing the Soviet-type economic organization, and the pattern of growth achieved in the USSR and Eastern Europe, we have already implied a kind of “strategy” of economic growth, i.e., the specification of the variables the policy makers consider important, and the kind of instruments they use to try to control them. But it is useful to consider this question of strategy explicitly. Economic development is a crucial aspect of public concern and public policy in the modern world, but it is a goal that is not achieved with ease. Economic history and the experience of the contemporary world show us that there are many obstacles to economic growth, and that nations that want to grow must find some strategy for overcoming them. It is interesting to ask how the Russians and other socialist countries dealt with these obstacles, and to consider to what extent the Soviet-type strategy, if we can identify one, may hold lessons for other countries trying to accelerate their economic growth. Trying to formulate this strategy explicitly will also provide a useful base from which to consider two other variants of the Soviet-type economy — the Chinese and the Cuban.