The Soviet Household under the Old Regime

This book provides the most detailed analysis to date of the economics of the Soviet urban household sector during the 1970s. It contains eight studies covering the size and distribution of incomes and wealth, the incidence and causes of poverty, the labour supply of women, division of labour among household members, and saving behaviour. All these studies are based on a unique source of information: the returns of retrospective income surveys of Jewish immigrants to Israel and the United States. In each study, Gur Ofer and Aaron Vinokur employ a cross-sectional econometric analysis of data on individual households and in this they are unique among all Western and Soviet authors on the Soviet household sector. Ofer and Vinokur conclude that socialist achievements in the sphere of economic equality were rather modest. They also show that, even under the peculiar conditions imposed on Soviet households by the socialist system, they responded to economic constraints in a way that is predictable by ordinary Western-type models of household behaviour. Although it is essentially an historical study, The Soviet Household under the Old Regime makes an important contribution to current evaluations of the conditions necessary for the smooth transition of the Soviet system. It sheds light on probable changes in household patterns and in entrepreneurship as well as on the refinements needed in the welfare and social security systems. This book will be widely read by students and specialists of Soviet studies, comparative economics, income distribution and women’s studies. It will also be an invaluable reference source for government officials and journalists.