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How did Ronald Reagan's aggressive economic policies contribute to the collapse of the Soviet Union?

User Pheobe
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Reagan's policies forced the Soviet Union to spend more money on weapons and military commitments, exposing weaknesses within the Soviet economy....... apexxxxx
User Gowthaman
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Reagan had a series of economic policies that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

One of them was that Reagan had a massive defense build-up from 134 to 253 billion dollars. This made the Soviet Union raise their spending with defense from 22 to 27% of GDP, this caused the freeze of production of civilian goods.

He also ended Carter’s grains embargo, this caused even more food shortages in the Soviet Union, at the same time he reduced the flow of technology to the Soviet Union and limited gas exports to them.

At that time, the Soviet Union had an economy based on oil, this moves by Reagan caused a drastic fall in the price of oil and as a result, Soviets had a low income of currency.

User BalaTJ
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