"To what extent did the USA win the Cold War through economics?"
Throughout the cold war the americans had the financial advantage. This was first seen in the Truman Doctrine in the early cold war time period. Through out the cold war both sides invested heavily in technology research. This technology included weaponry and space equipment. Both sides researched whatever the other was researching in order to ensure that the other side would not gain a technologic advantage. One specific example where the US exploited this reality was operation star wars. By essentially out spending the USSR in the cold war the US were able to gain the advantage. The soviets had limited resources and this lead to Glasnost as a method for the Soviets to regain some deficit. Glasnost leads to the falling of the Berlin Wall and essentially the end of communism and the cold war.
Throughout the cold war the americans had the financial advantage. This was first seen in the Truman Doctrine in the early cold war time period. Through out the cold war both sides invested heavily in technology research. This technology included weaponry and space equipment. Both sides researched whatever the other was researching in order to ensure that the other side would not gain a technologic advantage. One specific example where the US exploited this reality was operation star wars. By essentially out spending the USSR in the cold war the US were able to gain the advantage. The soviets had limited resources and this lead to Glasnost as a method for the Soviets to regain some deficit. Glasnost leads to the falling of the Berlin Wall and essentially the end of communism and the cold war.