istries and departments as well as the union republic 

 councils of ministers. The plans emphasize, then, 

 both the association of financial and real resources 

 and the relationship of broad aggregates to the rec- 

 ommendations of intermediate level management organs 

 and institutional subsystems. 



There are two broad sources of financing R&D: (1) 

 the State Budget and (2) the fiscal resources at the 

 disposal of ministries and agencies at the intermedi- 

 ate level and of enterprises and scientific organiza- 

 tions at the performer level. In Soviet terminology 

 the second source is designated "own funds." Most 

 own funds are, in fact, centralized by the ministry 

 that administers them. Only a portion are decentral- 

 ized and used directly by enterprises and organiza- 

 tions to contract for R&D with scientific institu- 

 tions. ^ J - The amount of these resources for each min- 

 istry and agency is stipulated in the plan for finan- 

 cing scientific research projects as a source of fi- 

 nancing. 



Slightly less than one-half of all science expen- 

 ditures is financed by the State Budget. Budgetary 

 allocations encompass, first, R&D aimed at solving 

 national priority or so-called "basic scientific and 

 technical problems" specified in the macroeconomic 

 plan. These "basic problems" are usually interbranch, 

 involving the joint efforts of multiple ministries 

 and agencies. The State Budget also finances re- 

 search in the natural and social sciences as well as 

 R&D projects linked to the solution of the most im- 

 portant branch-wide tasks. 



As a rule, State Budget grants are heavily used in 

 the financing of theoretical or exploratory scientif- 

 ic research where R&D results cannot be closely asso- 

 ciated with ultimate economic savings. In 1975, for 

 example, 97 percent of expenditures by research in- 

 stitutes specializing in public health, 90 percent of 

 expenditures by those in agriculture, and 80 percent 

 of expenditures by the USSR and republic academies of 

 sciences were financed through the state and republic 

 budgets. 22 These same sources generally seem to fund 



94 



