Economic Reforms and Transformations of the Socialist Ukrainian Economy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present historical changes in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic based on an empirical analysis of the reforms of that time. In the Soviet Union, there were several attempts to reform the socialist economy. However, none of these reforms changed it structurally because they did not aim to build a new economic order or transform the old one; their mission was merely to save the socialist economy.

The research area covers the reform activities of Nikita Khrushchev, as well as the reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. An important period of reform of the economic and political systems occurred in the 1980s. The bold economic and political reforms introduced by Mikhail Gorbachеv were subsequently referred to as “perestroika” (reconstruction), “uskorenie” (acceleration), and “glasnost” (openness). However, these reform activities were generally delayed and did not contribute to the stabilization of the economy or state policy, but even destabilized it. However, repeated and ill-considered reforms caused unexpected changes in the policy and economic system of the USSR.