with, the types of patents and models to be acquired, 

 the equipment and materials needed for the assimila- 

 tion of foreign technology, requirements for capital 

 construction, the R&D performers and industrial fa- 

 cilities to be assigned to the adaptation and instal- 

 lation of the imported technology, legal rights and 

 obligations in the use of this technology, and the 

 estimated economic return from its adoption and dif- 

 fusion. At the same time, a determination must be 

 made of what scientific R&D projects should be termi- 

 nated after purchase of a foreign patent. 121 



The extent to which these new procedures are ad- 

 hered to and the overall impact of changes in import 

 policy on the planning process are impossible to as- 

 sess from available information. Calculation of the 

 economic effectiveness of Soviet technology, we have 

 seen, is still fraught with many problems and defi- 

 ciencies. Methods and criteria for evaluating the 

 effectiveness of foreign technology and the compara- 

 tive advantage of borrowing from abroad or building 

 domestic capability are only beginning to be devel- 

 oped. According to one Western authority, "So far 

 it appears that planning calculations of this type 

 have had little role in the actual planning of ex- 

 ports and imports. "122 i n addition, decisions to im- 

 port technology are still limited to high priority 

 problems and projects. For the bulk of Soviet R&D, 

 the inside-outside choice simply does not arise. Bor- 

 rowing is not a real option. -* 



More generally, these changes in R&D policy plan- 

 ning have coincided with considerable expansion of 

 Soviet participation in international trade and tech- 

 nology transfer. Reasons for such expansion are typ- 

 ical: a combination of certain pressures which in- 

 duce international cooperation, such as global envi- 

 ronmental problems, and the standard benefits which 

 accrue to all who take part in the international di- 

 vision of labor in science and technology . 124 j n _ 

 creasingly, Kremlin authorities have come to realize 

 that it is expensive — and not necessary — to reinvent 

 the wheel and to be self-sufficient in all areas of 

 science and engineering. They have also come to re- 



152 



