Gorbachev's Challenge: Economic Reform in the Age of High Technology / Edition 1

by Marshall I. Goldman

Overview

Gorbachev's Challenge is deeply knowledgeable about the Soviet and Chinese institutional landscapes, and the American system as well...There is no better-informed or more imaginative introduction to the economic problems facing the Russians as the century ends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393305494
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/17/1987
Series:	Economic Reform in the Age of High Technology
Edition description:	Rev. ed
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Marshall I. Goldman (1930—2017) was associate director of the Russian Research Center at Harvard University and the author of several books on the Soviet Union and comparative economic systems.

Editorial Reviews

Since only 40% of Soviet farms have storehouses, many of the crops rot. Goldman (U.S.S.R. in Crisis cites this incredible example to illustrate the inefficiency of an economy mired in vested bureaucratic interests, corruption and waste. The Achilles heel of the system, he writes, is the Stalinist legacy of rigid centralization. He charges that the central planning system is especially ill-suited to the age of ``high technology.'' Among the reasons for this are the absence of small start-up companies, lack of reward for innovators and resistance to radical experiment. In order to satisfy the demand for consumer goods and motivate workers, Gorbachev will have to reverse his country's emphasis on heavy industry and the military concludes the author, who is associate director of Harvard's Russian Research Center. Goldman suggests a Chinese-style economic liberalization as a possible action. (June 1)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

``Restructuring'' has become the centerpiece of Mikhail Gorbachev's domestic policy, and Goldman of Harvard's Russian Research Center is one of the most qualified American scholars to assess the policy's potential. He places current policy within the context of the Soviet past, and also explains the novelty of the current situation. The Soviet economy lacks any equivalent of the American ``start up'' companies necessary for the development of high technology; imported Western technology has not been well applied in the civilian economy; and reform models of other socialist countries are not encouraging. Goldman's prescription for economic reform should make good reading for American and Soviet leaders. Recommended for all subject collections. Zachary T. Irwin, Humanities & Social Sciences Div., Behrend Coll., Pennsylvania State Univ., Erie

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