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La Direction centrale de la statistique et la Balance de l’économie nationale de l’URSS en 1923—24
[The Central Statistical Administration and the Balance of the National Economy of the USSR, 1923—24]

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  • Akhabbar, Amanar

Abstract

In 1918 the Central Statistical Administration (TsSU) was founded with the support of Lenin. Pavel Illich Popov was its first director (1918-1926). TsSU proceeded to the merging and centralization of the former decentralized statistical system of the zemstva (local governments) inherited from Tsarist regime. Between 1918 and 1928, i.e. during the civil war and the NEP, TsSU was at the heart of Soviet Statistics but it came to be controlled and eventually absorbed by Gosplan afterwards. At the TsSU Popov defended his view of social statistics as being a device for the revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the political sphere while resting on strong scientific foundations in accordance with international standards. Rooted in Russian statisticians’ tradition, the objectivity and scientific nature of the works issued by the TsSU was Popov’s credo. In 1926, Popov exposed his views in a collective book he edited and published by the TsSU, The Balance of the National Economy of the USSR, 1923―24. In The Balance was exposed for the first time the modern principles of national accounting and intersectoral macroeconometric analysis. According to Popov, these were the relevant devices for social engineering in the NEP. Against “utopian” authors, Popov stressed the importance of founding social engineering and planning on economic theory and political economy. He thus explained how his statistical balance was an outgrowth of Quesnay’s Tableau économique and Marx’s schema of reproduction. Our article aims at examining Popov’s specific contribution as well as identifying its stakes and its significance in the economic debates during the 1920s.

Suggested Citation

  • Akhabbar, Amanar, 2013. "La Direction centrale de la statistique et la Balance de l’économie nationale de l’URSS en 1923—24 [The Central Statistical Administration and the Balance of the National Economy of the USSR, 1923—," MPRA Paper 61762, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:61762
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Akhabbar, Amanar & Allisson, Francois, 2014. "Russian Political Economy from Utopia to Social Engineering: An Introduction," MPRA Paper 61893, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic statistics; national accounting; reproduction schema; planning; socialist calculation; Central Statistical Administration; USSR; transition; NEP; communism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist
    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • B23 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Econometrics; Quantitative and Mathematical Studies
    • B24 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist; Scraffian

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