A Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Service Sector (Methodological Questions)

Work on the compilation of the long-range plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR for 1976-1990 requires the further improvement of the methodological principles of long-range planning, a more precise determination of the most important directions of growth of the Soviet economy, and a comprehensive approach to the resolution of problems confronting Soviet society. Among the latter is the substantiation of the place of the whole service sector in the total aggregate of branches of the national economy, the elaboration of the systems approach to the determination of avenues for its growth, and the compilation of a comprehensive plan for the development of all branches and types of activity relating to this sector.

The Relationship Between Fixed Capital And Labor Power

Analysis of both the processes entailed in increasing the capital-to-labor ratio and of the structural changes in the economy connected therewith presupposes, in particular, the determination of a comparable assessment of production resources: labor power and implements of labor. Marx's evaluation of the productive forces of Great Britain in 1770 and 1840 is the first such comparison. (>u>1>/u>) the idea of replacing live labor by technical improvements was subsequently taken by Marx as the basis for his theory on the limits of the use of machines under capitalism.

Structural Changes in the Economies of the European Members of Comecon

At the present stage of full-scale communist construction in the USSR and successful construction of socialism in the people's democracies, the economy is the main battlefield for communism and socialism. The rate of economic growth in the socialist countries is much higher than in the capitalist countries. In contrast to the less than 200% increase of industrial production in all of the capitalist countries in the period 1937-1963, the countries of the world socialist system show a 700% rise. Industrial production in the formerly economically backward socialist countries showed an especially rapid growth. The share of the industrialized countries - the GDR and Czechoslovakia - in the gross industrial product of the member-countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance has dropped from 16.46% in 1950 to 15.34% in 1961. The share of Poland, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria rose from 13.5% to 14.98% over the same period.

National Economic Assessment of the Activity of Branches in the Nonproductive Sphere

Under present conditions the national economic assessment of the performance of branches in the nonproductive sphere takes on more and more importance. The share of these branches in the use of aggregate resources is gradually growing, and at the same time, their contribution to the development of the national economy and to the improvement of the well-being of the people is increasing. The subject of the present article is to elucidate methodological problems entailed in monetary assessment of the output of the service sphere and to define the general indices characterizing the rise of the economy as a whole and the conditions underlying the rise in the living standard. It also examines some questions in the dynamics and changes in the structure of output of nonproductive branches as a whole and of the service sphere. (>u>1>/u>)

Methodological Problems in Assessing the Population's Need for Services

The service sphere is one of the rapidly growing sectors of the USSR national economy. In ever increasing measure the need is felt for the scientific substantiation of the goals of development of society associated with the further expansion of that sphere. After all, the more precisely are defined the goals in the attainment of which these branches of the national economy must participate in the future, the more rationally will it be possible to use the resources which society allocates for this purpose.

Toward a Methodology for a Rational Consumption Budget

The rapid growth of the national economy in the extended future will create a firm base for the resolution of the most important socioeconomic problems. In a speech to the voters in the Bauman Electoral District in Moscow on June 14, 1974, L. I. Brezhnev noted that in the next three five-year plans we must secure a total abundance of high-quality foodstuffs and consumer goods plus the broad development of the service sphere and corresponding growth of the population's real incomes.

Forecasting the Population's Monetary Savings

Savings are one of the most important components in the balance of the population's money incomes and expenditures. Effective methods of evaluating savings on a planned basis have not been developed to date. Guidelines on the elaboration of state plans for the economic and social development of the USSR offer the general recommendation that in the process of determining the total increase in cash on deposit in the planned period, "it is necessary to analyze data on absolute sums of remainders and the growth of deposits, their correlation with the population's money incomes and their increment for a number of preceding years, and also to consider the economic and organizational factors underlying their growth." (>u>1>/u>) At the same time, answers are missing to a number of questions: how to organize the analysis of savings, the proper ratio of savings to money incomes, the significance of organizational and economic factors underlying the growth of savings.

Forecasting Public Demand for Paid Services

The growing importance of the public service sphere is a characteristic feature in the present stage of development of the Soviet economy. Branches serving the public are attracting an ever-increasing percentage of the manpower resources, and their fixed capital is growing at a rapid rate. Paid services are playing an increasingly vital role in balancing personal monetary income and spending. The intensive expansion of the public service sphere, which reflects objective changes in the structure of society's needs, exerts a many-sided influence on the entire course of social production. Improvements in the system of planning, and economic regulation of the public service sphere (and especially of branches) that offer their services mainly in return for payment), are acquiring particular importance at the present time.

Interbranch Aspects of Personal Services

The further improvement of the people's well-being is the basic objective of the party's economic strategy in the 1980s. Comrade L. I. Brezhnev stated in the Report of the Central Committee of the CPSU to the Twenty-sixth Party Congress: "The expansion of production and improvement of the quality of consumer goods production and the development of the service sphere are of paramount importance in the party's effort to improve the well-being of the people." The resolution of major social problems and the improvement of the living conditions and way of life of Soviet people â both these tasks of social development in the present stage depend to an ever increasing degree on the scale and quality of work of such a large branch of the national economy as personal services.