Kondratyev, Nikolay (Dmitriyevich)

also spelled Kondratieff

(born March 4, 1892—died 1938?) Russian economist and statistician. In the 1920s he helped develop the first Soviet five-year plan, for which he analyzed factors that would stimulate Soviet economic growth. After criticizing Joseph Stalin's plan for the total collectivization of agriculture, he was dismissed from his post as director of the Institute for the Study of Business Activity in 1928. He was arrested in 1930 and sentenced to prison; his sentence was reviewed in 1938, and he received the death penalty, which was likely carried out the same year. He is noted for his theory of 50-year business cycles known as Kondratieff waves. See also Gosplan.

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