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The Political Economy of Famine: The Ukrainian Famine of 1933

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  • Naumenko, Natalya

Abstract

The 1933 Ukrainian famine killed as many as 2.6 million people out of a population of 32 million. Historians offer three main explanations: weather, economic policies, genocide. This paper documents that (1) available data do not support weather as the main explanation: 1931 and 1932 weather predicts harvest roughly equal to the 1924–1929 average; weather explains up to 8.1 percent of excess deaths. (2) Policies (collectivization of agriculture and the lack of favored industries) significantly increased famine mortality; collectivization explains up to 52 percent of excess deaths. (3) There is some evidence that ethnic Ukrainians and Germans were discriminated against.

Suggested Citation

  • Naumenko, Natalya, 2021. "The Political Economy of Famine: The Ukrainian Famine of 1933," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 156-197, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:81:y:2021:i:1:p:156-197_5
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    Cited by:

    1. Ekaterina Zhuravskaya & Sergei Guriev & Andrei Markevich, 2022. "New Russian Economic History," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-03874282, HAL.
    2. Basco, Sergi & Domènech, Jordi & Maravall, Laura, 2023. "Land reform and rural conflict. Evidence from 1930s Spain," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Art Carden, 2023. "Economic planning must be polycentric, not monocentric: Introduction to a symposium on Mises and Hayek on socialism and knowledge," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 647-656, January.
    4. Kennedy, Liam, 2022. "Famine as genocide? Ukraine and Ireland," QUCEH Working Paper Series 22-03, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    5. Serena Vigezzi & Jose Manuel Aburto & Iñaki Permanyer & Virginia Zarulli, 2022. "Divergent trends in lifespan variation during mortality crises," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 46(11), pages 291-336.
    6. Ó Gráda, Cormac & Lee, Chihua & Lumey, L. H., 2023. "How Much Schizophrenia Do Famines Cause?," MPRA Paper 119448, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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