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Prices, Planners, and Producers: an Agency Problem in Soviet Industry, 1928–1950

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  • Harrison, Mark

Abstract

Soviet planners developed the “unchanged prices of 1926/27†to facilitate the solution of an agency problem—the regulation of self-interested producers as they worked to fulfill plans for heterogeneous products denominated in rubles. The system limited but did not eliminate producers' opportunistic behavior, which took the form of inflating the plan prices of new products. Through the 1930s and 1940s the “unchanged†prices proved resistant to reform, and following their abolition in 1950 the system was soon afterwards reinstated with a new base year. The history of the “unchanged†prices illustrates the limits of command.

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  • Harrison, Mark, 1998. "Prices, Planners, and Producers: an Agency Problem in Soviet Industry, 1928–1950," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 1032-1062, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:58:y:1998:i:04:p:1032-1062_02
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    Cited by:

    1. Harrison, Mark, 2000. "Soviet Industrial Production, 1928 to 1955: Real Growth and Hidden Inflation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 134-155, March.
    2. Kim, Byung-Yeon & Kim, Suk Jin & Lee, Keun, 2007. "Assessing the economic performance of North Korea, 1954-1989: Estimates and growth accounting analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 564-582, September.
    3. Smirnov, Sergey, 2015. "Economic Fluctuations in Russia (from the late 1920s to 2015)," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 130-153.

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