White House Economic Analysis of Ukraine

The 2019 Economic Report of the President includes the most extensive economic analysis of Ukraine of any President going back at least to Truman.  It discussed:

• Historical harms -- including murder -- imposed on Ukraine by Moscow (Chapter 8),
• The extensive costs of the collective ownership imposed on Ukrainian agriculture, asking why would collective ownership of healthcare work out any better if the economic incentives were the same (Chapter 8),
• How the New York Times covered up and lied about events in Ukraine because the events were incongruent with the leftist fantasies of many of its readers (Chapter 8).  Pulitzer Prizes were awarded for those lies!
• Ukrainian energy trade (Chapter 5).

Below is one of the charts from the 2019 ERP.

Ukraine was never even mentioned in an ERP between 1947 and 1992.  Nor were any related keywords (see below).

• The 1993 ERP noted that Ukraine was among former Soviet republics issuing its own currency in 1992 (pp. 304-5).
• The 1994 ERP noted that "[CEA member] Stiglitz traveled to Russia and Ukraine and established an official relationship with the Russian Government's Working Center for Economic Reform." (p. 256)
• The 1995 ERP noted that the U.S. engaged in several bilateral investment treaties, including "treaties with the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine, and Belarus." (p. 249).
• The 1997 ERP cited Ukraine in a list of many countries allocated "U.S. non-military bilateral aid" and that in the case of Russia and Ukraine, this aid was for "public health programs" (pp. 264-5).  It also cited the "explosion at Chernobyl" as part of a paragraph about "how developing countries treat their environment."  [I wish the 2019 ERP had included a section on environmental stewardship by socialist countries, but the idea did not occur to me until much later.  The environmental rhetoric was much the same as modern-day socialists'].
• On page 167 of the 1998 ERP, it was noted that Ukraine was one among several countries assigned "less stringent" emissions limits by the Kyoto protocol.  On page 259, a large list of countries receiving U.S. aid was listed, including Ukraine.
• On page 290 of the 1999 ERP, it was noted that currency boards have been recommended for countries such as "Indonesia, Russia, and Ukraine."
• Page 260 of the 2001 ERP reports that CEA "initiated a new dialogue with economic officials in Ukraine."
• Page 131 of the 2005 ERP includes a box about "The Benefits of Land Titles."  Several countries are mentioned in the box, with Ukraine as one of those where "entrepreneurs believe their property rights are secure [and therefore] reinvest ... back in their business."
• In a paragraph about the "disadvantages to nuclear power," p. 172 of the 2008 ERP cites the "Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine."
• The 2010 ERP notes the rapid deprecation of "the currencies of Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine" (p. 86).
• A footnote on p. 130 of the 2012 ERP explains which countries are included in its emerging markets index.  Ukraine is one of 21.
• Figure 1-4 of the 2014 ERP has international comparisons of quarterly real GDP time series.  Ukraine is one of the countries included.  A similar chart is repeated on page 117.

This post was based on text searches for "Ukraine", "Ukrainian," "Holodomor," "Kyiv," "Kiev," or "Chernobyl" in the 1947-2021 ERPs.