EN

Article

Allocation under Dictatorship: Research in Stalin's Archives

Paul Gregory; Mark Harrison · Journal of Economic Literature 43(3), 721–761 · 2005

Open publisher page ↗

Type: Article
Author: Paul Gregory; Mark Harrison
Identifier: DOI 10.1257/002205105774431225
Accessed: 2026-09-01

Claims citing this source

2 claims

EstablishedResearch in Stalin's archives shows that Soviet planners and the dictator faced severe information and principal-agent problems, and that resource allocation was shaped by bargaining and political priorities rather than by a coherent optimal plan.EstablishedArchival research shows that the Stalinist command economy operated less as a coherent plan than as a hierarchy of bargaining between the dictator, ministries and enterprises, with shortages and informal markets filling gaps.