The Plan Price In the National Economy's System of Management

Abstract

To our way of thinking, the consistent implementation of the systems principle [>i>sistemnost>/i>'] is one of the chief tasks in the development and realization of the complex of measures for restructuring the national economy's management mechanism. The realization of the systems principle in actual fact requires the strict articulation of the functions of each link of the management mechanism, their total coordination for the purpose of increasing effectiveness and improving quality, the acceleration of scientific-technological progress, [the provision of] performance incentives, and the identification of the areas for the most effective utilization of these functions based on complementarity rather than duplication. As regards pricing, which is an integral part of the overall system of management of the socialist economy, this demand means, first, the need to develop precise theoretical and methodological principles of the interaction of the system of prices with the centralized plan, with the finance and credit system, and with the cost-accounting conditions of enterprises and associations. Second, improvements in the price system must eliminate the internal contradictoriness of its individual components: wholesale prices on the products of the raw material and manufacturing branches of industry, shipping rates, purchase prices on agricultural products, retail prices on consumer goods, and rates for services. Third, the level of organization of the formation, approval, and revision of prices must be raised.