@article{06e534834c994e16aef955a5e8758615,
title = "The standard of living in the Soviet Union, 1928-1940",
abstract = "New estimates of the growth in total and per capita consumption are developed for the Soviet Union during the first three Five-Year Plans. These estimates show that consumption per head rose 27 percent from 1928 to 1937. The gains were confined to the urban population and to those moving from the country to the city. In the standard interpretation, per capita consumption fell in the 1930s. The reasons for the difference in interpretation are examined in detail. The estimates presented here are based on new information and on alternative approaches to valuation and index number problems.",
author = "Allen, {Robert C.}",
note = "Funding Information: The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Dec. 1998). {\textcopyright} The Economic History Association. All rights reserved. ISSN 0022-0507. Robert C. Allen is Professor, Department ofEconomics, UniversityofBritish Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T1Z1. I thankAbram Bergson, EseyDomar, David Green, SheilaFitzpatrick, Anne Gorsuch, Paul Gregory, Gregory Grossman, Holland Hunter, Cormac O Grada, Avner Grei£ Gunnar Pearson, Gilles Postel-Vinay, Peter Timmer, Peter Temin, JeffWilliamson, Gavin Wright, and the editors and referees of this journal for their comments without meaning to implicate them in the conclusions advanced here. I thank Ian Keay for research assistance. Early versions of this research were presented to seminars and conferences at the Universities of California, Copenhagen, Illinois, Michigan, and at Harvard University, Yale University, Moscow State University, Northwestern University, and the Institut national de la Recherche agronomique. I thank the participants for their comments. Remaining errors are my own. This research was supported by grantsfromthe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the International Research and Exchanges Board, for which I am grateful. 1 Tucker, {"}Stalinism{"}; and Lewin, {"}Social Background.{"}",
year = "1998",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1017/S0022050700021732",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "58",
pages = "1063--1089",
journal = "Journal of Economic History",
issn = "0022-0507",
publisher = "Cambridge University Press",
number = "4",
}