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The Soviet Economy in Transition
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17452 |
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Section : |
SPECIAL SECTION
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1990 |
3,143 Words |
| Author
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Abel Aganbegyan
Abel Aganbegyan is head of the Economic Branch of the Academy
of Sciences of the USSR and is chief economic adviser to
Mikhail Gorbachev. |
The future of the Soviet economy is bound up with the perestroika processes that are at present under way in this country. The perestroika drive was launched on Mikhail Gorbachev's initiative in 1983. It is an integrated and comprehensive campaign. Soviet foreign policies have radically changed due to new political thinking, a new view of the world, and the priority of global human values over the interests and concerns of individual countries. The new foreign policy line contributed to moving from confrontation to cooperation and joint effort toward the consolidation of peace. This policy made it possible to begin the process of disarmament and provided for cuts in military spending. Internally, a deep political reform is being carried out, designed to ensure democratization and glasnost as well as the transition to the rule of law. As a result, human rights in the Soviet Union have been measurably expanded.
Anticipated Economic Reform
Economic reform is a top priority component in the restructuring of Soviet society. It is designed to radically re-conceptualize and modernize the entire economic system.
First, the Soviet Union must move from the present deficit-haunted economy with its producers' fiat to a new economic mechanism. Production should be subordinated to meeting social needs, and both its range and scope should be determined by the consumers. Top priority should be given to the social requirements associated with the improved living standards. Thus, it should move from an economy oriented toward increasing the scale of production to a new, socially oriented, people-oriented economy. The Soviet leaders should radically restructure the entire national economy, reconsider its priorities, and be first and foremost concerned about meeting human needs.
Second, our industries should switch over from basically extensive economic development, which draws on additional resources, to intensive development, which increases efficiency and quality through accelerated technical progress. The Soviet economy should become a highly effective economy of the scientific and technical revolution.
Third, the command methods of economic management should give way to a new economic mechanism that will largely rely on the market, material incentives, and the large-scale involvement of working people in production management.
Finally, the closed
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