HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

468 I. S. KOROPECKYJobjective of this study is limited to an analysis of only one aspect ofthese relations, usually in the center of public attention: transfers ofnational income by the central government through the state budget. 1Evidence of such transfers is presented in the following section. Noattempt is made to assess the short- and long-run effects of thesetransfers on the economy of either the Russian Empire/USSR or theUkraine; 2 however, possible reasons for the outflow of national incomefrom the Ukraine are discussed in the subsequent three sections.Based on the evidence presented, a hypothesis about the nature ofeconomic relations existing between the Russian Empire/USSR andthe Ukraine is advanced in the last section.This article uses the framework developed by the author in anearlier work which analyzed the overall regional policy in the USSRduring the postwar period (Koropeckyj, 1970). By contrast, however,it narrows the discussion to the relations between the Ukraine and therest of the Russian Empire/USSR from the middle of the nineteenthcentury to the most recent years. Furthermore, it makes use ofestimates prepared by other researchers as well as earlier ones by theauthor, since the main purpose here is not so much the presentation ofnew estimates of relevant variables as an interpretation of the availableevidence.For the purposes of this study, the Ukraine is treated as an economicregion. Geographically, it includes only those Ukrainian ethnic landsthat belonged to the Russian Empire before the Revolution and thosethat were incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR after the Revolution.The empire before the Revolution is referred to as "tsarist Russia" or"the tsarist empire." The term "Russia/USSR" denotes the politicalentities before and after the Revolution. By "ethnic Russians" ismeant the Russian nationality; their territory is called "ethnic Russia"or "the Russian SFSR." It should be noted that this republic contains1Interregional transfer of national income can also take place through the pricestructure. In other words, the prices of goods and services in which a given regionspecializes and which it exports can be set low directly or indirectly by thegovernment relative to the prices of imports from other regions. However, ananalysis of this aspect cannot be undertaken here because of insufficient data. Evena detailed study on national income in the Ukraine in the early 1960s, with access tounpublished information, has not attempted to estimate the magnitude of suchtransfers, for the same reason (Akademiia nauk, 1963, Chapter IX).2In the latter case, for example, along Johan Galtung's or Samir Amin's theoriesof structural or dependence imperialism.