USSR: Measures of Economic Growth and Development, 1950-80

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Description of the Index. The index of government
administrative services is a weighted average of the
separate measures of man-hour employment in the six
subsectors. The weights for the subsectors are the
value added in each subsector as shown in table D-7.
To the extent that labor productivity has increased,
man-hour employment understates the growth of the
real product rendered by this group of services. An
alternative procedure to deflate current expendi-
tures on these activities by appropriate price index-
es—cannot be used because there is little information
on nonwage outlays for the sector and suitable price
deflators are not available. The procedure used in US
accounts is to deflate general government expendi-
tures largely by input price indexes. The man-hour
employment data for each subsector are shown in
table B-21.
General Agricultural Program. These programs pro-
vide general services to agriculture and are apparently
financed largely if not entirely from the state budget.
The services include plant and animal disease control,
general veterinary services and inspection, erosion
control and land improvement, management of land
tenure procedures, and the like. Activity is measured
by an index of man-hour employment obtained as
follows:
(l) Employment is estimated in each year as the
difference between total reported employment in
state agriculture and employment in “state farms,
interfarm economic enterprises, subsidiary and
other productive agricultural enterprises.” Data
given in Trud v SSSR, Moscow, Statistika, 1968,
p. 26, suggest that nearly all of this residual group
consists of employees providing veterinary and
other services to agriculture.
(2) The average annual number of man-hours was
assumed to be the same as in state agriculture as a
whole. The latter was calculated for 1950-78 from
data on average annual employment and total
man-hours worked given in Stephen Rapawy,
Civilian Employment, p. 24. The average number
of man-hours in 1979 and 1980 was assumed to be
the same as in 1978.
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Forestry. This activity encompasses enterprises and
organizations engaged in the management and protec-
tion of state forests and parks; it is financed largely
from the state budget. The man-hour employment
data used to measure this activity are given for 1950-
78 in Rapawy, Civilian Employment, p. 14, and
extended to 1980 by the same methodology.
State Administration and the Administrative Organs
of Social Organization. This activity includes the
operations of state administrative bodies at all levels
(ministries, state committees, and the like), legislative
and judicial organs, administrative organs of state
security and defense, and the administrative organs of
trade unions, the Communist Party and other so-
called social organizations. The activity of this sector
is financed mainly from state budget funds, but also
partly from charges to enterprise costs. Social organi-
zations include the administrative organs of the All-
Union Society of Consumer Cooperatives, the Com-
munist Party and Komsomol, the trade unions and
professional unions, and a number of other groups
that are permitted to function (for example, the Red
Cross, civil defense, and nature societies). Their activ-
ities are financed largely from dues paid by members.
The man-hour employment data used to measure this
activity are given for 1950-78 in Rapawy, Civilian
Employment, p. 14, and extended to 1980 by the same
methodology.
Culture. Public libraries, museums, parks, zoos, clubs,
and children's camps are the principal institutions
covered by this sector. Rapawy published data for
education and culture combined (Civilian Employ-
ment, p. 14). The education component is derived in
JEC, Consumption as part of the consumption index.
The remainder forms the index of culture.
Municipal Services. These services consist mainly of
the upkeep of city streets and municipal facilities,
garbage and trash collection, fire protection, and
similar functions. Activity is measured by an index of
man-hour employment obtained in the “housing-com-
munal economy and personal services” category of
Approved for Release: 2019/07/19 C05210421