ABSTRACT
Technology is the knowledge and the techniques with which inputs into the production process are transformed into output. The flow of technology runs primarily from West to East. The West has an advantage in technology, partly because it represents a larger pool of industrially more advanced nations. The result is a lag in both the development and the spread of technology. Without belittling the often impressive achievements of central planning, it can be said that this lag is perhaps its weakest feature. East European interest in importing technology has undoubtedly been enhanced by the desire to modernize more quickly, thereby raising economic growth rates. Many Western observers believe the present Eastern, especially Soviet, interest in importing technology reflects the failure of economic reforms as well as the need to compensate for the slowdown in the growth of the labor force. Societies that rely on central planning tend to be unable to spread technology very effectively through their economies.
