The assimilation, at the turn of the '50s, by Soviet planning theory of the programme approach marked a tremendous heuristic break-through.
It coincided with the tendency for a shift from the essentially physicalterm to price-term planning and controls. ~ The duality conception has shed new light on the nature of parameters which have to be supplied from the centre to the operating echelons such as to lead them towards the maximization (minimization) of the planner's objective function. The widening of the information-flows and the advance in automated computation seemed to carry great promise for macro-planning practice.
Those who listened here to Kantorovich's brilliant address will recall 3 his hopes for the immediate adequacy of his classical linear construct for planning purposes in general (as he had stressed, specifically in the Soviet-type environment -i.a. because complications, which are due to economies of scale, externalities and so on, are mitigated). He still insists (as we shall see) that mathematical snags encountered in application should not be overstated. However, it seems fair to say that by now such optimism could be somewhat more qualified. The causes relate to the weaknesses of the classical construct on the only too wellknown counts: deterministic nature, staticness, unmanageability of size, and linearity.
There is comparatively little to say on the first point. Very few studies have appeared so far in Soviet literature on plan-programming under 1 This is a revised version of my contribution from the Chair at a Seminar meeting in November 1967, at the London School of Economics, introducing Dr Tom Kronsj6's paper. The Editor of this journal kindly suggested its publication.
The origin and the purpose account for both the shape and the contents of the rather loose remarks. For this, apology is offered to the reader. An elaboration of this and some other matters touched upon in these remarks will be found in A.