material balance

Soviet economics

Learn about this topic in these articles:

In economic planning: The work of Gosplan
…drawing up a series of material balances, which expressed anticipated supply of, and demand for, all key commodities. The successive versions of the plan were revised until a general balance was attained, since it was no use planning an increase in production of any item if the necessary additional machinery,…
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In economic planning: Assessment of Soviet-type planning
A centralized system of material balances is not insurance against erroneous forecasting. The material-balances approach exercised a conservative influence, perhaps because it was simplest to plan on the assumption that the various technical coefficients would remain constant. Innovation was often resisted, and the influence of user demand was weak.…
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