Soviet Union

Many younger people do not remember much about the Soviet Union. It was a command economy meaning the central government would plan what was to be produced. This is very difficult under the best of conditions but the planning was interfered with because goals were set based not on good economic policy but rather on ideology. Everything was designed to show how communism was better than capitalism. They set up a series of five year plans each designed to show off a sector of the Soviet efficiency. The first was directed at heavy industry and big equipment was shown to the world and instead of the whole economy growing together it was a piece meal growth. Since one sector depended on other sectors for parts and such, things bogged down while one area tried to catch up with another area. In the west where the free market determined growth this was not the case and in time the west growth far out paced that of the Soviets. This finally caught up with the Soviets in the 1980's and led to the collapse of the country.