Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

====Growth rates====
Growth rates in the Eastern Bloc were initially high in the 1950s and 1960s.<ref name="turnock23"/> During this first period, progress was rapid by European standards and per capita growth within the Eastern Bloc increased by 2.4 times the European average.<ref name="turnock24"/> Eastern Europe accounted for 12.3 percent of European production in 1950 but 14.4 in 1970.<ref name="turnock24"/> However, the system was resistant to change and did not easily adapt to new conditions. For political reasons, old factories were rarely closed, even when new technologies became available.<ref name="turnock24"/> As a result, after the 1970s, growth rates within the bloc experienced relative decline.<ref name="hardt16">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Hardt|Kaufman|1995|p=16}}</ref> Meanwhile, West Germany, Austria, France and other Western European nations experienced increased economic growth in the [[Wirtschaftswunder]] ("economic miracle"), [[Trente Glorieuses]] ("thirty glorious years") and the [[post-World War II boom]].

From the end of World War II to the mid-1970s, the economy of the Eastern Bloc steadily increased at the same rate as the economy in Western Europe, with the non-reformist Stalinist nations of the Eastern Bloc having a stronger economy than the reformist-Stalinist states.<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Teichova|Matis|2003|p=152}}</ref> While most western European economies essentially began to approach the [[per capita]] [[gross domestic product]] (GDP) levels of the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Eastern Bloc countries did not,<ref name="hardt16"/> with per capita GDPs trailing significantly behind their comparable western European counterparts.<ref name="hardt17">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Hardt|Kaufman|1995|p=17}}</ref>

The following table displays a set of estimated growth rates of GDP from 1951 onward, for the countries of the Eastern Bloc as well as those of Western Europe as reported by [[The Conference Board]] as part of its ''[[Total Economy Database]]''. In some cases data availability does not go all the way back to 1951.
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left"
|- "
!GDP growth rates in percent for the given years<ref>{{cite web|title=Total Economy Database, November 2016. Output, Labor, and Labor Productivity, 1950–2016|url=https://www.conference-board.org/retrievefile.cfm?filename=TED_1_NOV20161.xlsx&type=subsite|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517180734/https://www.conference-board.org/retrievefile.cfm?filename=TED_1_NOV20161.xlsx&type=subsite|archive-date=17 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
!1951
!1961
!1971
!1981
!1989
!1991
!2001
!2015
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Socialist Republic of Albania||6.608||4.156||6.510||2.526||2.648||−28.000||7.940||2.600
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Republic of Bulgaria||20.576||6.520||3.261||2.660||−1.792||−8.400||4.248||2.968
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Hungarian People's Republic||9.659||5.056||4.462||0.706||−2.240||−11.900||3.849||2.951
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Polish People's Republic||4.400||7.982||7.128||−5.324||−1.552||−7.000||1.248||3.650
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Republic of Romania||7.237||6.761||14.114||−0.611||−3.192||−16.189||5.592||3.751
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/[[Czech Republic]]||–||–||5.215||−0.160||1.706||−11.600||3.052||4.274
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/Slovakia||–||–||–||–||1.010||−14.600||3.316||3.595
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Soviet Union/Russia||–||7.200||4.200||1.200||0.704||−5.000||5.091||−3.727
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Austria||6.840||5.309||5.112||−0.099||4.227||3.442||1.351||0.811
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Belgium||5.688||4.865||3.753||−1.248||3.588||1.833||0.811||1.374
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Denmark||0.668||6.339||2.666||−0.890||0.263||1.300||0.823||1.179
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Finland||8.504||7.620||2.090||1.863||5.668||−5.914||2.581||0.546
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|France||6.160||5.556||4.839||1.026||4.057||1.039||1.954||1.270
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Germany (West)||9.167||4.119||2.943||0.378||3.270||5.108||1.695||1.700
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Greece||8.807||8.769||7.118||0.055||3.845||3.100||4.132||−0.321
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Ireland||2.512||4.790||3.618||3.890||7.051||3.098||9.006||8.538
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Italy||7.466||8.422||1.894||0.474||2.882||1.538||1.772||0.800
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Netherlands||2.098||0.289||4.222||−0.507||4.679||2.439||2.124||1.990
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Norway||5.418||6.268||5.130||0.966||0.956||3.085||2.085||1.598
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Portugal||4.479||5.462||6.633||1.618||5.136||4.368||1.943||1.460
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Spain||9.937||12.822||5.722||0.516||5.280||2.543||4.001||3.214
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Sweden||3.926||5.623||2.356||−0.593||3.073||−1.146||1.563||3.830
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Switzerland||8.097||8.095||4.076||1.579||4.340||−0.916||1.447||0.855
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|United Kingdom||2.985||3.297||2.118||−1.303||2.179||−1.257||2.758||2.329
|}
The [[United Nations Statistics Division]] also calculates growth rates, using a different methodology, but only reports the figures starting in 1971 (for Slovakia and the constituent republics of the USSR data availability begins later). Thus, according to the United Nations growth rates in Europe were as follows:
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left"
|-
!GDP growth rates in percent for the given years<ref>{{cite web|title=UN Statistics Division, December 2016. Growth Rate of GDP and its breakdown|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/dnltransfer.asp?fID=16|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref>
!1971
!1981
!1989
!1991
!2001
!2015
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Socialist Republic of Albania||4.001||5.746||9.841||−28.002||8.293||2.639
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Republic of Bulgaria||6.897||4.900||−3.290||−8.445||4.248||2.968
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Hungarian People's Republic||6.200||2.867||0.736||−11.687||3.774||3.148
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Polish People's Republic||7.415||−9.971||0.160||−7.016||1.248||3.941
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Republic of Romania||13.000||0.112||−5.788||−12.918||5.592||3.663
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/[[Czech Republic]]||5.044||−0.095||0.386||−11.615||3.052||4.536
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/Slovakia||–||–||–||−14.541||3.316||3.831
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Soviet Union/Russia||5.209||5.301||6.801||−5.000||5.091||−3.727
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Ukraine||–||–||–||−8.699||8.832||−9.870
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Lithuania||–||–||–||−5.676||6.524||1.779
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Yugoslavia/Serbia||9.162||1.400||1.500||−11.664||4.993||0.758
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Austria||5.113||−0.144||3.887||3.442||1.351||0.963
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Belgium||3.753||−0.279||3.469||1.833||0.812||1.500
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Denmark||3.005||−0.666||0.645||1.394||0.823||1.606
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Finland||2.357||1.295||5.088||−5.914||2.581||0.210
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|France||5.346||1.078||4.353||1.039||1.954||1.274
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Germany (West)||3.133||0.529||3.897||5.108||1.695||1.721
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Greece||7.841||−1.554||3.800||3.100||4.132||−0.219
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Ireland||3.470||3.325||5.814||1.930||6.052||26.276
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Italy||1.818||0.844||3.388||1.538||1.772||0.732
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Netherlands||4.331||−0.784||4.420||2.439||2.124||1.952
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Norway||5.672||1.598||1.038||3.085||2.085||1.611
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Portugal||6.632||1.618||6.441||4.368||1.943||1.596
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Spain||4.649||−0.132||4.827||2.546||4.001||3.205
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Sweden||0.945||0.455||2.655||−1.146||1.563||4.085
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Switzerland||4.075||1.601||4.331||−0.916||1.447||0.842
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|United Kingdom||3.479||−0.779||2.583||−1.119||2.726||2.222
|}
[[File:Eastern bloc economies GDP 1990.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Per capita GDP in the Eastern Bloc from 1950 to 2003 (1990 base [[International dollar|Geary-Khamis dollars]]) according to [[Angus Maddison]]]]
<!-- several errors{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left"
|-
!GDP per Capita, according to the [[UN]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Un statistics Division December 2016, GDP per capita|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/dnltransfer.asp?fID=9|access-date=7 August 2017}}</ref>
!1970
!1989
!2015
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|United Kingdom||$2,350||$16,275||$44,162
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Italy||$2,112 ||$16,239||$30,462
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Austria||$2,042 ||$17,313||$44,118
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Japan||$2,040 ||$25,054||$34,629
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Soviet Union/Russia||{{color|red|$1,789}}||{{orange|$2,711}}||$9,243
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Ukraine||-||-||$2,022
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Lithuania||-||-||$14,384
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Greece||$1,496 ||$7,864||$17,788
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Ireland||$1,493 ||$11,029||$60,514
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Spain||$1,205||$10,577||$25,865
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/[[Czech Republic]]||{{color|red|$1,136}}||{{color|orange|$3,764}}||$17,562
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/Slovakia||-||-||$16,082
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Republic of Bulgaria||{{color|red|$1,059}}||{{color|orange|$2,477}}||$6,847
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|People's Socialist Republic of Albania||{{color|red|$1,053}}||{{color|orange|$904}}||$3,984
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Cyprus||$1,004 ||$9,015||$21,942
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Polish People's Republic||{{color|red|$1,000}}||{{color|orange|$2,229}}||$12,355
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Portugal||$935||$6,129||$19,239
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Yugoslavia/Serbia||{{color|red|$721}}||{{color|orange|$4,197}}||$5,239
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Cuba||{{color|red|$653}}||{{color|red|$2,577}}||{{color|red|$7,657}}
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Republic of Romania||{{color|red|$619}}||{{color|orange|$2,424}}||$9,121
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Hungarian People's Republic||{{color|red|$615}}||{{color|orange|$3,115}}||$12,351
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|China||{{color|red|$111}}||{{color|red|$406}}||{{color|red|$8,109}}
|-style="text-align:center;"
|style="text-align:left;"|Vietnam||{{color|red|$64}}||{{color|red|$94}}||{{color|red|$2,068}}
|} -->
[[File:GDP per capita of the Eastern Bloc.png|thumb|450px|GDP per capita of the Eastern Bloc in relations with the GDP per capita of the United States during 1900–2010]]
The following table lists the level of [[nominal GDP]] per capita in certain selected countries, measured in [[US dollar]]s, for the years 1970, 1989, and 2015:
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left"
|- "
!Nominal GDP per Capita, according to the [[UN]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Un statistics Division December 2016|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/snaama/dnllist.asp|access-date=7 March 2017}}</ref>
!1970
!1989
!2015
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|United Kingdom||$2,350||$16,275||$44,162
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Italy||$2,112 ||$16,239||$30,462
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Austria||$2,042 ||$17,313||$44,118
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Japan||$2,040 ||$25,054||$34,629
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Soviet Union/[[Russia]]||{{color|red|$1,789}}||{{orange|$2,711}}||$9,243
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|[[Ukraine]]||-||-||$2,022
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|[[Lithuania]]||-||-||$14,384
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Greece||$1,496 ||$7,864||$17,788
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Ireland||$1,493 ||$11,029||$60,514
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Spain||$1,205||$10,577||$25,865
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic/[[Czech Republic]]||{{color|red|$1,136}}||{{color|orange|$3,764}}||$17,562
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|[[Slovakia]]||-||-||$16,082
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|People's Republic of Bulgaria||{{color|red|$1,059}}||{{color|orange|$2,477}}||$6,847
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|People's Socialist Republic of Albania||{{color|red|$1,053}}||{{color|orange|$904}}||$3,984
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Cyprus||$1,004 ||$9,015||$21,942
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Polish People's Republic||{{color|red|$1,000}}||{{color|orange|$2,229}}||$12,355
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Portugal||$935||$6,129||$19,239
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Yugoslavia/[[Serbia]]||{{color|red|$721}}||{{color|orange|$4,197}}||$5,239
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Cuba||{{color|red|$653}}||{{color|red|$2,577}}||{{color|red|$7,657}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Socialist Republic of Romania||{{color|red|$619}}||{{color|orange|$2,424}}||$9,121
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Hungarian People's Republic||{{color|red|$615}}||{{color|orange|$3,115}}||$12,351
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|China||{{color|red|$111}}||{{color|red|$406}}||{{color|red|$8,109}}
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"|Vietnam||{{color|red|$64}}||{{color|red|$94}}||{{color|red|$2,068}}
|}
While it can be argued the [[World Bank]] estimates of GDP used for 1990 figures underestimate Eastern Bloc GDP because of undervalued local currencies, per capita incomes were undoubtedly lower than in their counterparts.<ref name="hardt17"/> [[East Germany]] was the most advanced industrial nation of the Eastern Bloc.<ref name="zwass34">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Zwass|1984|p=34}}</ref> Until the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, East Germany was considered a weak state, hemorrhaging skilled labor to the West such that it was referred to as "the disappearing satellite".<ref name="graubard8">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Graubard|1991|p=8}}</ref> Only after the wall sealed in skilled labor was East Germany able to ascend to the top economic spot in the Eastern Bloc.<ref name="graubard8"/> Thereafter, its citizens enjoyed a higher quality of life and fewer shortages in the supply of goods than those in the Soviet Union, Poland or Romania.<ref name="zwass34"/>

While official statistics painted a relatively rosy picture, the [[Economy of the German Democratic Republic|East German economy]] had eroded because of increased central planning, economic autarky, the use of coal over oil, investment concentration in a few selected technology-intensive areas and labor market regulation.<ref name="lipschitz52">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Lipschitz|McDonald|1990|p=52}}</ref> As a result, a large productivity gap of nearly 50% per worker existed between East and West Germany.<ref name="lipschitz52"/><ref name="Teichova72"/> However, that gap does not measure the quality of design of goods or service such that the actual per capita rate may be as low as 14 to 20 per cent.<ref name="Teichova72"/> Average gross monthly wages in East Germany were around 30% of those in West Germany, though after accounting for taxation the figures approached 60%.<ref name="lipschitz53">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Lipschitz|McDonald|1990|p=53}}</ref>

Moreover, the purchasing power of wages differed greatly, with only about half of East German households owning either a car or a color television set as late as 1990, both of which had been standard possessions in West German households.<ref name="lipschitz53"/> The ''[[East German mark|Ostmark]]'' was only valid for transactions inside East Germany, could not be legally exported or imported<ref name="lipschitz53"/> and could not be used in the East German [[Intershop]]s which sold premium goods.<ref name="zwass34"/> In 1989, 11% of the East German labor force remained in agriculture, 47% was in the secondary sector and 42% in services.<ref name="Teichova72">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Teichova|Matis|2003|p=72}}</ref>

Once installed, the economic system was difficult to change given the importance of politically reliable management and the prestige value placed on large enterprises.<ref name="turnock24">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Turnock|1997|p=24}}</ref> Performance declined during the 1970s and 1980s due to inefficiency when industrial input costs, such as energy prices, increased.<ref name="turnock24"/> Though growth lagged behind the West, it did occur.<ref name="frucht382"/> Consumer goods started to become more available by the 1960s.<ref name="frucht382"/>

Before the Eastern Bloc's dissolution, some major sectors of industry were operating at such a loss that they exported products to the West at prices below the real value of the raw materials.<ref name="turnock25">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Turnock|1997|p=25}}</ref> [[People's Republic of Hungary|Hungarian]] steel costs doubled those of western Europe.<ref name="turnock25"/> In 1985, a quarter of Hungary's state budget was spent on supporting inefficient enterprises.<ref name="turnock25"/> Tight planning in [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]'s industry meant continuing shortages in other parts of its economy.<ref name="turnock25"/>