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Foreign Aid and Soviet Postwar Recovery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Susan J. Linz
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Abstract

This paper examines the economic consequences to the Soviet Union of not participating in proposed aid programs in the immediate postwar period. The cost of World War II to the Soviet Union is compared with the value of economic aid received in the postwar period and with aid potentially available. The traditional story—which suggests that had the USSR received some combination of the proposed aid prgorams, in lieu of reparations, the postwar impact would have been significantly reduced—is rejected.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , December 1985 , pp. 947 - 954
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1985

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References

1 Linz, Susan J., ed., The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union (Totowa, N.J., 1985).Google Scholar

2 Linz, Susan J., “Measuring the Carryover Cost of World War II to the Soviet People: 1945–1953,” Explorations in Economic History, 20 (09 1983), pp. 375–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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10 For a complete list of sources see Susan J. Linz, “World War II and Soviet Economic Growth, 1945–1953” in Linz, ed., Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union.Google Scholar

11 Both Holzman's rate and the official exchange rate generate implausibly high reparation and aid contributions of between 8 and 20 percent of cumulative postwar national income. That Germany, having lost the war, could still contribute between 5 and 14 percent of cumulative Soviet postwar national income seems rather far-fetched.Google Scholar

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17 For a complete specification of the model see Linz, Susan J., “Economic Origins of the Cold War? An Examination of the Carryover Costs of World War II to the Soviet People” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois, 1980).Google Scholar

18 Similar conclusions are reported by Wassily Leontief, “The Future Development of the National Income of the Soviet Union,” Research and Analysis Report, United States Office of Strategic Services (Washington, D.C., 1944).Google Scholar