By the end of World War II the USSR had become the strongest nation in Europe and a first rate military power. Behind Soviet victory lay her economic achievement, sustaining not only a 12 million strong army but also defence industries which mass produced modern weapons on a scale unimaginable...

Monopoly is a particular problem in markets where experience goods are traded, since the consumer cannot respond to bad experiences by switching repeat purchases to another supplier. New evidence shows how the defence ministry as buyer in the Soviet market for military goods responded to this...