The semi-developed Soviet economy —a foreign trade illustration

The net commodity picture of almost total Soviet foreign trade with the non-communist world can now be summarized by its two main factors. On one side we have a net stream of raw materials and semimanufactured goods from the under-developed countries to the Soviet Union and further from the Soviet Union to the West. On the other side we have a reverse stream of machinery and equipment from the West to the Soviet Union, and further, from the Soviet Union to the under-developed nations. Thus, if we assume that the discussed foreign trade hypothesis is valid both as a description of reality and as a good supplementary index in the classification of development stages, the commodity pattern of Soviet foreign trade with non-communist nations seems to be that of a typical “semi-developed” nation. However, the idea should probably be tested on several other countries, like Italy or the Argentine, before any more interesting conclusions can be drawn.