Twentieth-century Eastern European socialist economies promised comprehensive welfare benefits 鈥渇rom the cradle to the grave,鈥� including generous state pensions, and had some of the lowest pension ages in the world; however, the expense of this agenda is often pointed to as a long-term cause of the collapse of these economies and its legacy as a drain on post-communist successors states鈥� budgets.
Focusing on the Soviet example, this talk by Professor Kristy Ironside聽looked at the pitfalls of pension financing in the postwar period.
Kristy Ironside
Assistant Professor, Department of History and Classical Studies
Kristy Ironside is a historian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union. She is especially interested in the political, economic, and social history of Russia and the USSR鈥檚 twentieth century.聽
