ABSTRACT
The premises of Gorbachev's hopes for the economy show some continuity with past policy. Gorbachev has already accomplished a great deal in the short period he has been in office. He has succeeded in breathing new life into the standard institutions of the system and in restoring some of the authority of the government and party. The central idea of intensive growth is that growth must come through either resource saving or increased productivity. Under Gorbachev, this idea has been given a couple of new twists. First, the capital renovation strategy is certain to enhance the competition between investment and military spending. Gorbachev's public line on the strategic position of the USSR vis-a-vis the United States and Soviet military spending is not very explicit. The energy sector provided a significant stimulus to Soviet growth in the past but, during the period of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, turned into a burden on the economy.
