Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsAnalyzes why it is uneconomical to develop Siberia as the Russians have historically envisioned.
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2017
Very good book that presents an economic analysis of why the Russians / Soviets have historically failed (and likely will continue to fail) to develop Siberia. It is simply too cold! The book goes into great detail on the incredibly high costs of living and working there. For example, it takes up to four times the effort to do work at at an environmental temperature of -15 degrees C as at a temperature of +15 degrees C. Table 3-6 on page 49 shows the effect of increasing cold on the performance of machinery and materials: high carbon steels fracture, compressors cease to operate, unalloyed steels fracture, cranes fail, ball bearings shatter, and so forth.
The book discusses the fact the only reason the Soviets could industrialize Siberia was by ignoring costs and return on investment (as would be considered in a free market economy) and by compelling people to work there though the GULAG administration. After the GULAG system was largely dismantled in the 1950s, workers were enticed to Siberia by offers of much higher wages than were offered in European Russian and though massive subsidies for food, fuel, and housing. The whole economic system cannot function on its own.
Chapter 3 (pages 51 -56) discusses an interesting counter-factual scenario: what if the Russians had behaved as the Canadians did and do? One of the conclusions is that is a free market economy, the population of Siberia would probably be 10 to 15 million less this it is actually today. Since the population of Siberia is around 40 million, this represents a 25% to 40% reduction in population. Industrial - defense cities such as Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Orenburg, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Ufa really have no economic justification to exist, at least not at their present sizes.
