Probably that people had a much harder time surviving to read as much...
Only in the later stages of decline, when economy was tanking and people spent half their time queuing for things, they probably had less time to read...
That's what I meant: in the turmoil of 1991 and beyond, people would have less time to read...
However I was thinking already 1980's: probably the dysfunction of the economy had an impact on people people's reading (like, do you typically read a book while you are at the meat shop queue or shoe shop queue?)