Was Socialist Yugoslavia's Economy Really That Powerful?

If you live in the areas of the Former Yugoslavia, or if you have visited the areas, you have most likely heard the stories on how Good the Yugoslavian Economy Was from people who lived in that period. But how accurate is this story in reality?

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Sources used:

Economy of Yugoslavia by Ivan Kushnir

Socialist Unemployment: The Political Economy of Yugoslavia by Susan L. Woodward (Primary Source)

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#yugoslavia #communism #history

[Lavader_]

Some New Viewers of the Channel may not know this, but this Video is a Remake of an older one on the exact same topic which got taken down due to copyright. But in order to not make all the exact same for Returning Viewers, I have added a bit of New Information as well 👍

[fiendish]

It is honestly so bizarre looking from the outside into Yugoslavia's history, how it seems that they were a regional economic powerhouse, where everything was fine and dandy up until Tito died, then the utopia turns to hell on earth

[BojanBojovic]

This opens totally another perspective on what happened. There is still so much nostalgia about those years, but for a reason most of the time as economics is just one part of the story, while cultural background and how people felt living in that country is another and large part of the nostalgia.
In the end, the sad thing is that we did not move much forward really, in many areas we moved backwards.

[ademarifaj]

I am born in 1963 I lived most of that, then war and Croatian concentration camp, now I live I the USA, no homelessness, everybody have medical care, free college for everybody, freedom of movement, low crime, social help for those that need, I never was komuniste party member, I tell you this Jugoslavia was country of the future that nobody understood, look what we have now in the

[yanneager]

For anyone who wants to explore more about economy of Yugoslavia, i recommend György Simon, Jr. An Economic History of Socialist Yugoslavia

[rederickfroders]

Yugoslavia wasnt that rich of a country at all. The economy wasnt too great either, but it didnt matter because even though people didnt make much money, things were also relatively cheap.
When people say great economy nowadays, they think about being able to buy a flat screen TV. That view is flawed.
Tito made a stable socialist and rather liberal country. He was a dictator that didnt take shit, but he was protective of the people.

[athishnirup]

I have a question, how do Serbians feel about the restoration of the Serbian monarchy, and how popular is the demand for the return of a Serbian monarchy, and I have a video suggestion in the 1890s the Bonaparist party was winning and hoped to restore the Bonaparists but the other parties formed a coalition and defeated it and the bonaparist party was swollowed into the consvartive party.

[tofuthegod]

SFRJ to someone such as myself (someone born post the collapse in North Macedonia) is really fascinating. It feels almost like an odd utopia that will never be seen again. I always questioned this idea tho since realistically speaking the people in modern day former Yugoslavia live in a much worse state then back then (at least most not all), and i belive this has led to some sort of nostalgia to a better time. This along with nostalgia has led to older folk making the past seem much much better then it actually was (Not saying it wasn't good its just some things iv heard is very very odd...).
On another note great video I'm happy you remade it and i hope your channel grows more!

[ihavenojawandimustscream]

It was overrated.But the yugoslav wars and its consequences were so bad that even a stagnating socialist state can be looked upon with nostalgia

[numenoreaneternity]

In 1991 - Yugoslavia's worst year, she ranked as the world's 24th economy, and was ahead of Austria, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Romania, and Norway, with a debt-to-GDP set to 18 million billion (15% of the GDP, the source is CIA's Factbook), and this is during IMF's "restructuring" that had gutted the industries, the public sector, and the agriculture. Furthermore, Yugoslavia was offered IMMEDIATE* entry into the EEC in late 1990, all member-states, barring Germany, were in favor. Months later, Germany proceeded to unilaterally (act of aggression in all but name) recognize and support the illegal secessions of Slovenia and Croatia, therefore starting the Yugoslav Wars, the rest is history. In summary, a powerful, developed economy: "Mutual interactions between the two sides intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s but all progress was cut off as of 25 November 1991 due to the wars in Slovenia and Croatia. Prior to the cut-off, Yugoslavia was the EEC's second largest trade partner in the Mediterranean area, just after Algeria, with 90% of industrial imports from Yugoslavia to the EEC not subject to any duty."

Woodward reported Yugoslav workers abroad as "unemployed" because they weren't employed in Yugoslavia, even though she knows that the Yugoslav government had made preferential arrangements with Western Germany to employ workers from saturated industries abroad - this is deplorable, disastrous, amateur methodology. Spreading misinformation about a dead state is the embodiment of desperation, not to mention that Yugoslavia is the reason why Bosnia and Herzegovina, and truth be told, the rest of former Yugoslavia, have modern infrastructure.

[dzonikg]

You hit something but also miss a lot ..like that with car license plates..it was only one year during oil crisis which was in whole world not just Yugoslavia, also coffee and other few import items shortage ..it also was in 1982/3 and not all years like you post in video..and even that was because people buyed much more then they really need creating shortages off that goods ..also for unemployment. Now in Kosovo and Bosnia is bigger unemployment then it was in Yugoslavia and they are capitalist for long time.
You say like in 70s was decline but actual awerage growth rate in 70s was 6% every year ...in 80s growth came to stop and it was 0..i am not expert to know real reason for that but my opion is that government wanted to pay external debt while keeping same standard off living which made inflation that Couse problem for industry, inflation was stoped in 1990 but 2 little 2 late.
BUt 2 say how life in 80s in Yugoslavia was bad even with economic problems is just false. Standard off life was still very good all the way to the end off Yugoslavia

[justamanwithacomputer]

A very informative video thank you for the contribution. I feel like more could have been said about the failure of public administration. Especially the effects of the ideological "samoupravljanje" movement. I feel like the lack of accountability it created still plagues the yugoslav states.
I really wish the economic reforms worked!

[Ones_Complement]

Characterizing protectionism and money printing as a "capitalist mode of trade" is beyond rich.

[bogdanjocovic]

No, a myth unfortunately. It's easy to grow fast when you're starting from scratch. Yugoslavia was the first of the winning countries to open its borders and send the able-bodied to Germany, only 10 years after the end of WW2 - they had nowhere to employ them.
Two changes to the constitution and three major monetary reforms are not in favor of prosperity, on the contrary, they held the European record for the borrowing rate at that time. When the "main guarantor" died, everything went downhill. There, others stepped in to help the disintegration, and no matter how much they owed as a whole in the 1990s, today's 6 states created by the disintegration owe ~20 times more, while the number of inhabitants is decreasing year by year. That region (exclude Slovenia) will never recover - it had a cancer in the form of communism.

Memories of very little or no work for good pay, free education and health insurance are one thing, the economic reality is quite another.

[tihomirrasperic]

the Yugoslav economy was not weak, on the contrary, the EEC constantly invited it to become a member
the problem was in the method
namely, companies converted profits into workers
thus, at the end of each year, a report was submitted to the workers' council:
"this year we did business successfully, and we hired xxx new workers"
the most successful company in the country was the one "that had the most workers"
and here we come to the problem
30% of them had nothing to do but were lounging around idle, so they went to the store during working hours, so they made up sick days, were on a 3-hour break
and for years it started to be a big problem that was pushed under the carpet
the party did not want to admit that it was a failed philosophy
Social peace in the country is bought with a job
Furthermore, the biggest buyers were the USSR and non-aligned countries
and now the non-aligned have no money and do not buy anything
so the only serious buyer was the USSR
with the collapse of the USSR and the disintegration of smaller states, that market also collapsed
companies burdened with crowds of workers who do nothing, an inert bureaucracy (for the same reason) without cash reserves (because all the money went to salaries) and the economy in the SFRY collapsed
Slobodan Milošević appeared there and promised honey milk to the Serbs if they elected him
and he paid for the promises from the state treasury (stole federal money)
when Croatia and Slovenia were asked to return that money to the federal reserves within a reasonable time, he refused
and there was the end of Yugoslavia

[petebondurant]

Please tell me, what is the song playing in the background?

[gajjc]

This corresponds well to the stories my parents were telling me about life in Yu.. their generation experienced the downward spiral. For the grandparents, coming out of poverty it was the other way 'round.
For the post-Yu generation ... we're living through somewhat stupid division and sepparation due to political reasons ... sharing the federation again makes sense from a different perspective. Especially in the world of global alliances, where we seem to have become independent only to become split apart and manipulated by different sides ...

[huljohuljo]

What is the name of the artist and song in the begining?

[mesmerb]

Thanks for the video! Cleared some things up. Very interested in Yugoslavia and always heard about the myth of its great prosperity prior to Tito's death.
But, I think that a lot of the Yugoslavia-myth may also be perpetrated by jealous neighbors. In Romania & Bulgaria, for example, older people still rave about Yugoslavia. I've heard it even in places like The Czech Republic that were better off. Anyway, thanks!
Btw, why was unemployment much higher in Kosovo than the rest of the country?

[daca]

Almost as if you cannot build socialism in capitalist system. Funny how that works...