ABSTRACT
The low productivity of Soviet investment is caused partly by some basic features of the Soviet economy. The contribution of imported technology to Soviet economic growth is difficult to assess, because of conceptual, methodological, and data problems. The importance of the direct stimulative effect on Soviet output from the foreign technology embodied in imported machinery and equipment is limited by the small share of these imports in total Soviet investment in machinery and equipment. Published projections of possible rates of Soviet economic growth to 1980, 1985, or 1990 vary according to the methods employed and the assumptions made about base-year conditions and choices among policy options thereafter. An important factor in the conduct of Soviet foreign policy in the coming years clearly will be the extent to which serious problems of resource allocation are confronted. Soviet trade and economic and military assistance programs are concentrated in selected target countries in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
