An analysis of the Soviet economic growth from the 1950’s to the collapse of USSR

The purpose of this paper is to study the Soviet economic growth from 1950 to 1991, focusing on the questions of capital accumulation and structural change. The period will be divided into three phases, corresponding to different levels of economic growth and structural features. The first phase, from the 1950s to the beginning of 1970s, corresponds to a regime of extensive accumulation of capital with fast growth of output and per capita GDP. The next phase, from the 1970s to the Mid-1980s, corresponds to a period of economic slowdown, with an attempt to move to a regime of intensive accumulation. The third and last phase began in 1985 with the Perestroika reforms. It is characterized by poor economic performance and the dismantlement of the Soviet Economic System. Kalecki’s contribution to the study of socialist economics is used, along with elements of the structuralist tradition and the modern classical approach.