Moscow City Finances in the 1950s–1980s: Dynamics and Structure of the Local Budget

Abstract

This article studies the changes in the structure and dynamics of the capital’s budget in the late Soviet period (1950s–1980s). The authors refer to materials of the Department of Finance of the Moscow Government kept in the Central State Archives of Moscow, as well as published in the 1950s–1970s collections of documents of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council of Deputies, dedicated to the budget estimates of Moscow. On their basis, the authors created an electronic database Moscow Budget in the 1950s–1980s, which was used to make all the calculations necessary for the analysis. The authors conclude that the budget of the capital was constantly growing and was in surplus, and in terms of per capita expenditures it occupied the 4th–6th places among the regions of the RSFSR. It focused on the development of urban infrastructure and, first of all, residential development. In absolute terms, the budget of Moscow in the period under review increased 11 times. In per capita terms, it grew 5.6 times. The most important items of expenditure for the capital were housing and communal services, education, and health care. At the same time, in the structure of the capital’s budget, fixed sources of income (including local ones) were gradually being replaced by regulated incomes transferred from higher budgets, which made the city dependent on them.