AGGREGATION, ARGUMENTATION - CAUSAL EXPLANATION - DIFFERENT RANGES-2

Source: Economist - carenini@cs.pitt.edu

SPECIFIC EVENT: end of the Soviet Union (91)

EFFECT: decreased output of consumer-goods industry

Ranges in the 3 charts: 85-94, 91-95, 95-96.

SOME ASSOCIATED TEXT:

"In 1995 domestic production of Russian consumer goods has fallen to 48% of its 1991 level, and was still shrinking at the start of 1996."

"Production of television sets in Russia fell from 4.5m units in 1991 to fewer than 1m in 1995. Import penetration rose from an estimated 5% in 1991 to more than 80%" (why only tv? maybe most reliable data they had available)

COMMENTS:

• Chart 1 Shows the main effect, the decreased output of consumer goods industries . It covers the widest range (85-94) and all goods are aggregated.
• Chart 2 focuses on one good and on the period of decline (91-95). Also shows how increase in import compensates for decline in production. (Why only data aboutTVs are shown? Maybe are the most reliable, the only available on that period or...)
• Chart 3 focuses on most recent period (95-96..) and on subset of components of original aggregate (it seems to indicate "the output is still decreasing and there are no exceptions")