Economic Thought and Economic Reform in the Soviet Union [Paperback]

In this 1991 work, Pekka Sutela presents a detailed analysis of Soviet economic thought and theory.Through extensive research, as well as long established contacts with leading Soviet economists, this analysis shows how Soviet economic thinking has moved from dogmatism through reformism to pragmatism.Through extensive research, as well as long established contacts with leading Soviet economists, this analysis shows how Soviet economic thinking has moved from dogmatism through reformism to pragmatism.Although the history of centrally planned economies has been widely studied, the development of socialist thinking on the subject has remained largely uncharted. In this pathbreaking work, Pekka Sutela presents a detailed analysis of recent and contemporary Soviet economic thought. Dr. Sutela traces the competing currents in the Marxist tradition of socialist economies from the Revolution to the present day. In particular he shows how the Gorbachev economic reform program of 1987 rose from the work of Nobel Prize economist L. V. Kantorovich and his followers, and explains why this program subsequently failed. Since then, Soviet economists have tried to abandon their traditional theory of central planning and move along the path toward a market economy. Through extensive research, as well as his long established contacts with leading Soviet economists, Pekka Sutela shows how Soviet economic thinking has moved from dogmatism through reformism to pragmatism.Acknowledgements; 1. The Soviet political economy of socialism; 2. The mathematical challenge to orthodoxy; 3. The reformist programme; 4. The years of radicalism and reaction; 5. Not of mathematics alone; 6. The age of perestroika; Notes; Index. ...this book is must reading. Well written and highly readable, the book breaks new ground first by providing an organized survey of Soviet economic thought from its Marxist roots to its contemporary relatively liberal Western orientation, and second by showing the extent to lš