State-directed Diffusion of Technology: the Mechanization of Cotton-harvesting in Soviet Central Asia

Mechanization of cotton harvesting began in earnest in the Soviet Union in 1958 and was expected to proceed more rapidly than the market-driven process which had begun in the USA a decade earlier. Despite high output of cotton-picking machines, the share of the crop harvested mechanically grew more slowly than in the USA. Mechanical picking was resisted at the farm level on the basis of distorted prices and incentives, but after the end of central planning mechanization also appeared unprofitable at market-based prices in the laborabundant Central Asian economies. Thus, planners could enforce introduction of the new technology, but the investment in cotton harvesting machines was largely a waste of resources. The costs of premature introduction waste are estimated at over one billion US dollars in 1960s prices. JEL Classifications: O33, N55, O13, P32, Q16