ABSTRACT
Perestroika's major feature consists in a far greater reliance on social factors in economic development. By the 1980s there appeared to be a considerable gap in living standards and social welfare procurement between the USSR and developed industrial nations, capitalist as well as socialist. Society assumed responsibility for the disabled and provided all its members with equal access to education and health care. The contention that consumer prices in the Soviet Union are relatively high is supported by the evidence arising from comparative analysis of work-time purchasing power with respect to different goods. The most important condition for a rise in living standards in the USSR is bringing about structural changes in the economy and enhancing its efficiency. The price reform underway is meant to close the gap between domestic and external price structures, paving the way for introducing an economically meaningful ruble exchange rate.
