ABSTRACT
Soviet industrial output in the first four months of 1987 was reported to have been 2.8 percent higher than in the same period in 1986. The published plan for 1987 provided few details, but it did call for a 7.3 percent increase in total engineering output, with faster growth for machine tools and computer equipment. The growth in the output of those engineering products for which data were published was clearly well below that rate. Three possible explanations could be advanced. First, there could have been an abrupt shift of resources from civilian products, the output of which was reported, to military products, the output of which was kept secret. Second, the effects of the new quality-control regime on total officially acceptable output were at least partly anticipated. Third, the plan targets implied in the monthly reports had been adjusted down as problems arose.
