5A - ECONOMICS

Question 1

What could the economy be described as, before Gorbachev

Answer 1

A command economy

Question 2

When was Russia the fastest growing economy?

Answer 2

Under Stalin in 1945 at an annual rate of 7.1%

Question 3

What did Khrushchev’s reforms promote?

Answer 3

Economic reform
Growth in agriculture
Raised SOL

Question 4

How much did the economy grow by in 1958-1962?

Answer 4

5.3%

Question 5

What had happened from 1945?

Answer 5

The economy had to compete in an arms race - producing sophisticated weapons

Question 6

What was the annual growth in the 1970s?

Answer 6

2%

Question 7

What was the annual growth by 1980?

Answer 7

0.6%

Question 8

What had the soviet economy failed to create?

Answer 8

Incentives for hard work or inovation

Question 9

What was the comparison of richest people with America in 1970?

Answer 9

The richest 10% of American society were 7 times wealthier than the bottom 10% in Russia

Question 10

What did GOSPLAN do?

Answer 10

Measured and rewarded production

Question 11

What was wrong with products in the USSR?

Answer 11

Quantity > quality
Wastage

Question 12

What did GOSPLAN demand in terms of tractors?

Answer 12

By 1980 GOSPLAN demanded the production of 400,000 tractors every year

Question 13

What happened in 1986 in terms of machinery?

Answer 13

20% of tractors were never used - due to shortages of drivers
12% of machinery was never used

Question 14

What were the issues with agriculture?

Answer 14

Soviet economy had never been fully modernised
There were too many tractors
Lacked sophistication

Question 15

What % of workers were farmers, compared with the USA

Answer 15

25.4% soviet workers. and 4.6% of American workers

Question 16

What happened to food?

Answer 16

The transport system was not full modernised - hard to transport food
Lack of storage - waste
Grain rotted

Question 17

How many times were American farms more productive?

Answer 17

6 times more

Question 18

What was the increase in the defence budget from 1965-1985?

Answer 18

12% - 17%

Question 19

What was American spending on military defence?

Answer 19

6%

Question 20

Why was Soviet defence spending a huge problem?

Answer 20

Starved other areas of the economy of much needed funds

Question 21

What was the issue of centralisation?

Answer 21

Economy was controlled by gov administrators
Gov set timetable for planting/harvesting
Farmers could not use their expertise

Question 22

What was the issue with fertilisers?

Answer 22

Arrived at the wrong time or were the wrong type

Question 23

How much did sugar beet production increase by between 1956-1980?

Answer 23

28%

Question 24

Why did centralisation cause significant issues?

Answer 24

Production could not be maximised

Question 25

What does uskoreniye meaning?

Answer 25

Acceleration

Question 26

What does perestroika mean?

Answer 26

Restructuring

Question 27

When did Gorbachev decide that fundamental reform was needed?

Answer 27

By 1987

Question 28

What did rationalisation aim to do?

Answer 28

Stimulate growth and higher levels of production

Question 29

When was the rationalisation period?

Answer 29

1985-1986

Question 30

What did reform intend to do?

Answer 30

Introduce market forces Political reforms to build support for greater economic change

Question 31

When was the reform period?

Answer 31

1987-1990

Question 32

What did transformation aim to do?

Answer 32

Abandon fundamental aspects of the system Single party rule + command economy

Question 33

When was the transformation period?

Answer 33

1990-1991

Question 34

How did the government reduce alcohol consumption?

Answer 34

55,000 party member were assigned to a new task force to stop the illegal production of alchohol

Question 35

What was alcohol production reduced by?

Answer 35

50%

Question 36

How many registered alcoholics were. there?

Answer 36

4.5 million

Question 37

How did the reduction of alcohol effect the government?

Answer 37

Made less money out of vodka sales Revenue dropped by 67 billion roubles

Question 38

Was the campaign a success?

Answer 38

Abandoned in 1988

Question 39

How much did the deficit of the economy rise from between 1985 - 1986?

Answer 39

2.4% - 6.2%

Question 40

How much did the gov debt rise between 1981 - 1988?

Answer 40

18.1 billion - 27.2 billion

Question 41

What did Gorbachev invest in?

Answer 41

Energy production, ignoring advice from economic experts to invest in high tech machines

Question 42

Why was there a lack of money?

Answer 42

Spent money on interest payments Less money for modernisation + consumer goods

Question 43

What happened to oil prices between 1981 - 1985?

Answer 43

$70 a barrel to $20 a barrel

Question 44

When was perestroika introduced?

Answer 44

Plenum of the cenrtal committee 1987

Question 45

What did some senior communist officials believe was necessry?

Answer 45

A degree of market reform - for economic recovery

Question 46

When was the law on individual economic activity?

Answer 46

1986

Question 47

What did the law on individual economic activity allow?

Answer 47

Legal for families and individuals to make money from small scale work - private teaching/repair/manual labour

Question 48

When was the law on state enterprise?

Answer 48

1987

Question 49

What did the law on state enterprise allow?

Answer 49

Devolved power from the central gov to factory management Allowed set prices for production

Question 50

How did the law on state enterprise fail?

Answer 50

Very little power was developed as GOSPLAn found new ways of maintaining central control Charge higher prices - gov had to pay for more goods

Question 51

What did the law on co-operatives do?

Answer 51

Legal to set up large scale private companies

Question 52

When was the law on co-operatives?

Answer 52

1988

Question 53

By 1990 how many private companies were there?

Answer 53

200,000

Question 54

What did the turnover of the co-operatives increase by?

Answer 54

29.2 m - 1.04 b

Question 55

When were private companies abolished and why?

Answer 55

1990 - restricted power

Question 56

Why did the partial market fail?

Answer 56

Required prices that accurately reflected the true value of goods - they reflected how much is cost the producer to make

Question 57

What ddi the gov do to allow consumers to buy goods at a price below the market rate?

Answer 57

Subsided prices

Question 58

Why were free markets prices + goods unpopular?

Answer 58

Co-operatives could sell goods at a price of their choosing

Question 59

What did the gov interference in partial market reform cause?

Answer 59

Imposing low price on co-operatives - production was uneconomic

Question 60

What did the gov fail to do?

Answer 60

Failed to create an effective market alternative No effective way of distributing goods

Question 61

When were there severe shortages?

Answer 61

1990

Question 62

Wha happened when the gov cut sibsides?

Answer 62

Prices rose Strikes increased

Question 63

What was the rise of enterprises that were affected by strikes between 1990-1991?

Answer 63

260-1755

Question 64

What was the price of beef in January 1990 compared to April 1990?

Answer 64

2 - 7

Question 65

What were the three main elements of perestroika?

Answer 65

Private ownership No subsides State control

Question 67

What did the 500 day programme aim to do?

Answer 67

Minimise the economic problems that were expected during the transition to a market economy

Question 68

When was the 500 day program published?

Answer 68

1990

Question 69

What did the two economists say

Answer 69

Proposed widespread privatisation and complete marketisation in less than 2 years

Question 70

What was Gorbachev's response?

Answer 70

Initially supported Pressure from senior hardline communists - persuaded it should happen at a slower pace

Question 71

When was private property introduced?

Answer 71

January 1991, by the supreme soviet

Question 72

What did private property mean?

Answer 72

Own land and factories Allow citizens to trade stocks + shares (April)

Question 73

How much did oil production fall by in 1991?

Answer 73

9%

Question 74

How much did steel and tractor production fall by in 1991?

Answer 74

12%

Question 75

When were the Soviet gov + republican gov bankrupt?

Answer 75

By 1991