After the collapse of communism, Soviet economic history remained a relatively small scholarly industry. Interest from other historians was limited because of skepticism regarding both the validity of the rational-choice approach employed by economic historians and the quality of data available to verify the approach.1 Students of Soviet history preferred to concentrate on political and social issues, taking advantage of the opening of the archives of the Soviet state. Yet declassified files on the Soviet economy remain largely underexplored; Gregory and Harrison have appraised the progress of work in this field, which in my view deserves more attention from historians as well as further development.2 I welcome the present discussion of Soviet economic history in Kritika and am grateful to the editors for the opportunity to take part in it. Before taking a careful look at the articles contributed to this issue, I will comment on what I consider the state of the art in the field of Soviet economic history and suggest contributions that further research in this vein could make to the understanding of Stalinism, Soviet history in general, and the nature of modern dictatorships.