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Hidden and repressed inflation in Soviet-type economies: definitions, measurements and stabilization

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Models of Disequilibrium and Shortage in Centrally Planned Economies

Part of the book series: International Studies in Economic Modelling ((ISIM))

Abstract

Official price trends in the USSR and in the Soviet-type economies have changed markedly through time but have followed a roughly uniform general pattern: hyperinflation at times of war, systemic transition and reconstruction; inflation at times of accelerated industrialization; stabilization through currency reform and fiscal measures, followed by modest deflation and a record of substantial price stability, recently broken by the spreading — with fewer and fewer exceptions — of renewed open inflation. This general pattern is due to fairly uniform trends in both policy stances and objective conditions: in theory central planning of both physical and financial flows should enable Soviet-type economies to achieve price stability; in practice the persistence of downward rigidity of money wages, the ambitious growth and accumulation targets, as well as adverse exogenous and systemic factors, have frequently necessitated planned or unplanned price increases.

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  1. Domenico Mario Nuti
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, UK

    Christopher Davis

  2. Department of Economics, University of Leicester, UK

    Wojciech Charemza

  3. University of Gdansk, Poland

    Wojciech Charemza

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Nuti, D.M. (1989). Hidden and repressed inflation in Soviet-type economies: definitions, measurements and stabilization. In: Davis, C., Charemza, W. (eds) Models of Disequilibrium and Shortage in Centrally Planned Economies. International Studies in Economic Modelling. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0823-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0823-9_5

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