Communist Regime Collapse: Output and the Rate of Repression

Journal article

Elise S. Brezis, Adi Schnytzer
Eastern Economic Journal, vol. 24(4), 1998, pp. 463-474

View PDF

Cite

APA Click to copy
Brezis, E. S., & Schnytzer, A. (1998). Communist Regime Collapse: Output and the Rate of Repression. Eastern Economic Journal, 24(4), 463–474.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Brezis, Elise S., and Adi Schnytzer. “Communist Regime Collapse: Output and the Rate of Repression.” Eastern Economic Journal 24, no. 4 (1998): 463–474.

MLA Click to copy
Brezis, Elise S., and Adi Schnytzer. “Communist Regime Collapse: Output and the Rate of Repression.” Eastern Economic Journal, vol. 24, no. 4, 1998, pp. 463–74.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{brezis1998a,
  title = {Communist Regime Collapse: Output and the Rate of Repression},
  year = {1998},
  issue = {4},
  journal = {Eastern Economic Journal},
  pages = {463-474},
  volume = {24},
  author = {Brezis, Elise S. and Schnytzer, Adi}
}

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a model which answers the rather obvious question: Why were communist dictatorships unable to keep power by means of repression, even in the face of economic difficulties. This paper shows that the level of output, consumption and the rate of repression are connected. There are levels of output at which increasing the repression rate is not optimal, but at which decreasing it might lead to a regime collapse. The level of output provides powerful explanatory variables for explaining communist collapse.

Keywords: communist regime, regime collapse, repression