Summary Record of the Discussion — Session VI

Abstract

Professor Grossman introduced the discussion with the observation that the three papers were of great significance in their concern with the problem of re-designing the basic model of the Soviet-type economy and of finding more effective forms of control. But their focus was the short-run (and their dynamism was at most on a year-to-year basis): they therefore passed over questions of the rate and direction of investment, or of income distribution. They all had in common a link with the problem of pricing (and hence to the observations made the day before by Academician Ostrovityanov and Professor Oelssner). None of the papers undertook any optimization in the Western sense, but, rather, sought ways of avoiding obvious waste and of subordinating particular actions to social goals. Although the title of the Session, ‘Material Incentives and Cost Accounting’, might seem restrictive, it correctly reflected the area with which the papers dealt. He would interpret ‘material incentives’ as the link between a particular action and a social goal, while ‘cost accounting’ (the Russian khozraschet) should be seen in terms of ‘businesslike management’, although recently it had been used by Soviet authors ¹ as a virtual synonym of enterprise autonomy. He found Professor Gatovsky’s paper particularly significant in providing an up-to-date review of Soviet thinking on the fundamental problems of the economy and in foreshadowing changes which were imminent. Although it was in concrete terms (unlike