cy and quality. Adequate procedures have not yet 

 been found for calculating the "cost/benefit ratio," 

 "economic return," and "social effectiveness" of R&D. 

 The new technical indicators policy is still in the 

 experimental stage. 



Hence, rough rule-of -thumb methods are likely to 

 dominate S&T decision making for some time. They are 

 indeed an inevitable and integral feature of managing 

 multiparticipant decision analysis in all societies. 

 Even the arrival of more "powerful" modern planning 

 techniques will not appreciably alter the basic po- 

 litical character of the Soviet decision process. As 

 a former Soviet planning specialist now in emigration 

 recently observed about the system, "The iterative 

 process, balancing, 'coming to agreement' does in 

 fact occur but not on paper, not in calculation, but 

 in life itself. "144 



163 



