Industrialization in the USSR 1923–1960. Structuralist Approach

In theory, the main factors of economic growth are labor and capital. The importance of the structural characteristic of the economic system is not denied by any economist, but this factor is usually not taken into account in models using homogeneous macro-production functions. Soviet economic growth is poorly described with their help, so researchers, as a rule, adjust statistics "to the model". The purpose of the work is to analyze Soviet growth as a structural transformation and deepening of the concepts of catch-up development and the second industrial revolution. Lenin's phrase "communism – Soviet power plus electrification of the entire country" is an illustration of the idea of catch-up development. The development of new technologies in the state of workers and peasants is identical to "building socialism". Otherwise, the combination of energy production technology and political regime looks like a strange oxymoron. The statistical test conducted did not reveal any relationship between the volumes of capital (fixed assets) and national income over a long period (1924–1987), however, the relationship between labor costs and income is strong and positive. Nevertheless, in the period of 1965–1987, the relationship between costs and income corresponds to classical concepts. An attempt to calculate the Solow residual and explain the nature of Soviet economic growth with its help was also unsuccessful. In this regard, a hypothesis was put forward that the main factor of growth was a structural shift in employment: workers moved from a less productive sector to a more productive one. Two-sector models describing the industrialization process have long been used in economic science. However, in relation to the USSR, we used a simulation mechanism based on the economic dynamics of J. Forrester. The model was calibrated, and the results obtained showed a high degree of reliability.