Author: Igorʹ I͡Akovlevich BirmanPublisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312023928
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 253
Book Description
This book provides much prime material on how the Soviets really live: what they eat, drink and wear; how cramped are their apartments and with what facilities; how many books they read; how any TV sets, roads and cinemas they have; why shopping is so difficult; and so on. The Soviet economy, the author contends, is much smaller than is commonly thought. In December 1987 Ronald Reagan told the Soviet readers of Izvestia that their living standards was only a third of that in the USA. This estimate was based on a special CIA study. The author of this book reviewed the study, discovered numerous mistakes, disagreed sharply with the methodology, considered mounds of additional facts and figures, and concluded that the CIA was wrong.