The wiiw COMECON Database
The wiiw COMECON Database contains economic time series covering the period 1944–1993 for the command economies of Eastern Europe that were members or associated members of the COMECON – the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. These include Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, as well as a few aggregated series for the COMECON core countries. The database features 8.347 annual time series, collected by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) from national sources at the time. Additionally, the database includes scans of wiiw publications from that era. Founded in 1972, wiiw has consistently provided regular country monitoring for Central, East, and Southeast Europe (CESEE), maintaining its commitment to in-depth economic research and analysis.
The use of wiiw COMECON statistics and publications is permitted for non-commercial purposes in scientific research. When referencing both statistics and publications, please cite as: wiiw COMECON Database. If only the statistics are used, cite as: wiiw COMECON Dataset.
Introducing the wiiw COMECON Dataset
This paper introduces the historical dataset with economic time series of socialist Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia (CSSR), the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union (USSR) and Yugoslavia from 1944 to 1993 …
The jockey, horse and racetrack revisited: Why did CESEE’s command economies collapse?
Why did the socialist system that dominated Eastern European countries for much of the 20th century collapse around 1990? Drawing on the …
Labour developments, living standards and well-being in Eastern Europe before the transition
This article examines trends in population, labour, prices, incomes and consumption across eight …
Exploring historical trade data on external economic relations in CESEE’s command economies
This paper revisits the external economic relations in the former command economies of Central, …
A Comparison of Labour Productivity in Manufacturing of the Planned and Market Economies
This paper examines labour productivity convergence in manufacturing of the planned and market economies …
Additional Datasets & Publications
This website also serves as a potential repository for additional data and publications related to the countries and periods mentioned above. If you would like to suggest a specific dataset and complementary materials, please contact us at wiiw@wiiw.ac.at.
The Role of Banks in Economic Development in the Former SFR Yugoslavia
The economic model of the former SFR Yugoslavia was subject to frequent institutional changes which were oriented towards the real economy as well as the banking sector …