Estimates of Changes in Real Wages in Poland During the 1960s

Abstract

“The productive effort of society,” Communist mythology avers, “has as its goal the provision of increasingly abundant amounts of consumer goods. Moreover, that is the ultimate aim of all production. It should be noted that in a socialist economy, in contrast with systems based on private ownership of the means of production, it becomes a direct goal.” It is also said that “the aim of the socialist economy is full satisfaction of the needs of the population.” One would expect that the fulfillment of this aim would be accompanied by a substantial rise in real wages. The purpose of this note is to check whether that logical conclusion applies to changes in real wages in Poland, by comparing two recent independent estimates—one by W. Krencik, published in Gospodarka Planowa, the Polish economic journal devoted to problems of planning, and the other by the present writer, published in Soviet Studies.