THE EUROPEAN SOVIET BLOC AND THE WEST AS MARKETS FOR PRIMARY PRODUCTS,

In an earlier study the author evaluated this claim by comparing the USSR with seven leading Western industrial countries. The present Memo randum represents an attempt to broaden the analysis by including five Eastern European mem bers of the Soviet Bloc, in order to discover whether the earlier conclusions apply to the European Soviet Bloc as a whole. For the purpose of testing Communist claims, three obe criteria are selected the size, the growth, and the stability of the market. The performance of the European Soviet Bloc and of the Eastern European countries is compared with that of seven leading Western countries the United States, United Kingdom, and the Common Market countries, and that of the Common Market countries separate ly. In the case of the USSR, official trade statistics provided data on both values and quantities of imports, enabling us to test Soviet claims with respect to the total value, the physical quantity, and the unit values of im ports. Unfortunately, no Eastern European country provided value data for each of the six years, and this Memorandum can therefore say little about the important measures of perform ance based on total value and unit value of im ports it focuses on quantity of imports. Author