ECONOMIC-GROWTH IN POSTWAR RUSSIA - ESTIMATING GDP

Making use of new sources which have become available since the collap se of the Soviet Union, I develop a new approach to estimating Russian economic growth for the period 1961 through 1995 by using the officia l output and employment data provided by Goskomstat RF and CIS Komstat , and find that official figures greatly exaggerated growth during 196 1-1990. Second, I make a comparison of official and other estimates of real growth rates of Russian GDP for 1991 through 1995. Using systema tically revised estimates to compensate for under-reporting, and keyin g on the utilization of electricity, I find that official statistics g reatly overestimate production declines for 1991-95.