1 Introduction -- 2 The Meaning of the First Decade of Soviet Socialism -- 3 The Political Economy of Utopia: Communism in Soviet Russia, 1918–1921 -- 4 The Political Economy of NEP: Market Relations and Interventionism in Soviet Russia, 1921–1928 -- 5 The Political Economy of Development...

Using annual data from the thirteenth century to the present, we show that improved long run economic performance has occurred primarily through a decline in the rate and frequency of shrinking, rather than through an increase in the rate of growing. Indeed, as economic performance has improved...