Methodological approaches to modeling the role of institutions and technologies in the economic growth of the late USSR (mid-1950s – late 1980s)

Based on historical data, we test our modified production functions, derived from exogenous growth model by Mankiw, Romer, Weil (1992) and theoretical ideas by Romer (1990). Besides physical and human capital, we augment them with proxy indicators for institutional and technological environments, and with a source of endogenous growth, i.e. R&D expenditures. We present our preliminary assessments of the role of these factors in economic growth of the late USSR in inter-country comparison.