Words and deeds in Soviet military expenditures, 1955-1983

The relationship between Soviet policy statements and military expenditures is assessed in this data collection. Annual speeches given by Soviet Finance Ministers to the Supreme Soviet were analyzed for references to intended defense spending, the United States, and the threat of imperialism. Other variables in this dataset include estimates from various Western sources of the level of Soviet defense spending and identification of the appropriate year in the Soviet planning cycle. A year is the unit of analysis in this dataset. There are 29 years covered, with 14 variables for each.