The Causes of High Famine Mortality in Ukraine, 1932-33

We document several new facts about the Soviet Great Famine, 1932–33: i) there was no aggregate food shortage; ii) regional mortality rates were unrelated to per capita food production, but positively associated with ethnic Ukrainian population share; and iii) the political loyalty of the local elites to the regime was more positively associated with famine mortality, collectivization and state food procurement in regions with a larger Ukrainian population share; iv) famine mortality was higher in the areas with stronger peasant resistance, and this correlation was more pronounced in regions with a larger share of ethnic Ukraniansxx resistance?. We find that ethnic bias against Ukrainians in Soviet policy explains 77% of famine deaths in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and 92% in the Ukraine.