Economic Problems of Scientific and Technical Progress

Abstract

Scientific and technical progress is the basic means of further increases in the efficiency of social production in the age of developed socialism. The level of science, the significance of new scientific and technical developments and discoveries, and their rate of assimilation in production and diffusion describe the economic potential of a country. Science is a direct production force, a decisive factor in the development of the socialist economy. There are immeasurable, increasing expenditures on science and technology in the national economy which become comparable with basic items of expenditure in the national economy. Therefore the development of the national economy depends to a large extent on the economics and management of scientific and technical progress. Important questions arise in this context. How can the achievement of the most intensive development of science and engineering be ensured; what means should be allotted to this end; to which ends can they be used most effectively; what achievements in science and engineering-in what quantities and sequence-should be applied in the national economy in order to obtain the best results for guaranteeing the industrial and military potential of a country and an increase in the standard of living of the population? The continued success of our economy depends to a considerable extent on sound solutions to these questions. Although the socialist system offers exceptionally favorable possibilities for the development of technical progress and its application to the national economy, the quality of planning and technical-economic calculations and the system of economic indices influence the realization of these potentials. "To fuse the achievements of the scientific and technical revolution with the advantages of the socialist economic system" (Brezhnev, 1971), not only the achievements of natural and technical sciences, but also to the same degree the achievements of the social sciences, mainly economics, have to be used as foundations.