The financing of R & D in some socialist countries of Eastern Europe

Abstract

AbstractIn the countries of Eastern Europe the financing of R & D represents a difficult problem in terms of economic scientific policy. In these countries it is not only a question of a simple apportionment of centrally‐held financial means to subordinate institutions, but also one of supporting promising fields of science, protecting long‐term and costly research programmes against risks and losses, and, above all, providing an incentive for R & D institutions to work out economically meaningful R & D results and translate them into economic practice. This last point is of particular importance in a system lacking a free market mechanism. A historical survey of the development of financing methods in the R & D field and of the numerous attempts to reform these methods will show the extent of the efforts made in Eastern Europe (whether successfully or not does not concern us here) to find an adequate solution to these problems.