USSR was completely devastated during WW2 and plunged into the Cold War right after. US sat out the war comfortably and then poured money into rebuilding Europe while USSR had to rebuild all on its own. I’m not sure why you think USSR having lower GDP than western nations is some kind of a gotcha here. They started from a far worse position, and had to develop under duress from the empire. Despite that, they still managed to achieve a much better rate of growth.
Yeah, that’s a good point. The USSR was most definitely at a disadvantage compared to the other countries at the time due to circumstances outside its control.
I’m not sure why you think USSR having lower GDP than western nations is some kind of a gotcha here
I’m just not sure I’d consider economic growth to be the most important factor when the overall GDP was lower than other countries. Maybe its economy could have far surpassed the capitalist countries given time, or maybe it would have stagnated at a much lower point - there’s no way to know. Which is why I don’t think this graph proves very much.
Having lower GDP is a direct result of USSR starting at a disadvantaged position. What the graph proves is that the system consistently outperformed western alternatives in the progress it was making.
USSR was completely devastated during WW2 and plunged into the Cold War right after. US sat out the war comfortably and then poured money into rebuilding Europe while USSR had to rebuild all on its own. I’m not sure why you think USSR having lower GDP than western nations is some kind of a gotcha here. They started from a far worse position, and had to develop under duress from the empire. Despite that, they still managed to achieve a much better rate of growth.
Yeah, that’s a good point. The USSR was most definitely at a disadvantage compared to the other countries at the time due to circumstances outside its control.
I’m just not sure I’d consider economic growth to be the most important factor when the overall GDP was lower than other countries. Maybe its economy could have far surpassed the capitalist countries given time, or maybe it would have stagnated at a much lower point - there’s no way to know. Which is why I don’t think this graph proves very much.
Having lower GDP is a direct result of USSR starting at a disadvantaged position. What the graph proves is that the system consistently outperformed western alternatives in the progress it was making.