Problems in the Methodology of Measuring and Mapping the Level of Economic Development of the USSR

Abstract

Economic development levels in the USSR are measured and mapped on the basis of an aggregate of three density parameters: the value of plant and equipment; the value of gross output, and population numbers, all per unit area. Data on the value of plant and on gross output are not available below the oblast level, and in the case of small oblasts in Central Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia, economic development levels within oblasts have been assumed to be relatively uniform. Large oblasts, especially in Siberia, required a further breakdown within oblasts, and in such cases the value of plant and gross output were allocated in proportion to population density. Economic development levels were graded on an eight-interval scale, but no absolute values were given. A related attempt to measure and map economic productivity was made by A. F. Burghardt, in his paper on “Income density in the United States” (Annals Assoc. Amer. Geographers, Sept. 1972).