Gorbachev's Challenge: Economic Reform in the Age of High Technology Book

Gorbachev's Challenge is deeply knowledgeable about the Soviet and Chinese institutional landscapes, and the American system as well...There is no better-informed or more imaginative introduction to the economic problems facing the Russians as the century ends.

Publishers Weekly

Since only 40% of Soviet farms have storehouses, many of the crops rot. Goldman (U.S.S.R. in Crisis cites this incredible example to illustrate the inefficiency of an economy mired in vested bureaucratic interests, corruption and waste. The Achilles heel of the system, he writes, is the Stalinist legacy of rigid centralization. He charges that the central planning system is especially ill-suited to the age of ``high technology.'' Among the reasons for this are the absence of small start-up companies, lack of reward for innovators and resistance to radical experiment. In order to satisfy the demand for consumer goods and motivate workers, Gorbachev will have to reverse his country's emphasis on heavy industry and the military concludes the author, who is associate director of Harvard's Russian Research Center. Goldman suggests a Chinese-style economic liberalization as a possible action. (June 1)