Open AccessSoviet Economic Reform : Progress And Problems
Author(s) -
Pervez Tahir
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v12i1pp.62-67
Subject(s) - productivity , incentive , nothing , devolution (biology) , soviet union , point (geometry) , subject (documents) , economics , sociology , political economy , political science , politics , market economy , law , computer science , economic growth , epistemology , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , library science , anthropology , human evolution
In mid-1960s, what have come to be known as Liberman's reform[7; 12] amongst the Western Sovietologists were introduced in the SovietUnion. In essence, the reform aimed at improving efficiency andproductivity through a greater devolution of managerial control, moreflexible planning process and procedures and the provision for anincentives fund to stimulate the managers as well as the workers.Liberman was certainly not the "think-tank" on the subject. In fact,there were scores of others, including Nemchinov and Trapeznikov. Theoperational phase of the reform started in November 1965 only aftertheir validity had been verified through repeated trials in selectedproduction sectors in early sixties. Its naming after Liberman is thusan out¬come of the usual Western Social 'scientists' craze forconveniently usable, though not necessarily meaningful, expressions.That "Libermanism" does not exist, but the "Libermaniac" do, is amplyborne out by Liberman's own observation that his writings "containnothing to give the slightest reason for such a distorted description ofour reform". Obviously, the "distortion" he is referring to is thepractice to describe the reform as his brain-child. He goes on to pointout that, far from being his singular innovation, the reform was "thewell-balanced expression of public opinion in the USSR worked out by agreat army of practical workers, scientists and leading managers" 13, p.355].