I feel like an assumption I come up against a lot with liberals is that the USSR had basically the same ownership class structure and wealth distribution that similarly developed capitalist classes had. I tried Binging this but don't have a good sense of what authors to trust.

  • Melitopol [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    check out world inequality report

    https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/syfnwDImxC.jpg

    https://wir2022.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2023/03/D_FINAL_WIL_RIM_RAPPORT_2303.pdf

    In the early 20th century, income inequality in Russia was especially high (the top 10% income share was close to 50%), but it dropped significantly after the 1917 revolution. After the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent “shock therapy” (a mixture of abrupt privatizations and deregulation), incomes at the bottom and the middle of the distribution declined. Conversely, the very rich gained substantially from the new economic regime, large-scale privatizations and very little control over financial flows. Tax evasion among wealthy Russians is particularly high.

    • MF_COOM [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Holy smoke I realize I've accessed and referred to these reports way before I even knew who Piketty is

        • MF_COOM [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Eh I don't think that's true. Having good politics doesn't make you smarter. Honestly I'd rather read someone with good scholarship and bad politics like Piketty than someone who has good politics but bad scholarship like :parenti:. I don't read to be told what to think, but to have access to reliable facts.

    • MF_COOM [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Hey rad, thanks! I just cracked Piketty's Capital today. Didn't know he was involved in a yearly report very cool

    • Swoosegoose [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      In the early 20th century, income inequality in Russia was especially high (the top 10% income share was close to 50%)

      isn't the current US way worse than this?