ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents an overview of key concepts covered in the preceeding chapters of this book. The book focuses on military spending, inflation, income distribution, and international trade, or varying combinations of these controversial subjects. As in the USSR, the role of military spending and its relatively positive impact on the advanced capitalist system since World War II created the greatest antagonism or controversy. As in the United States, budget deficits and military spending were also frequently believed to be sources of inflation. The Hungarian New Economic Reforms of 1968, which were similar to those being touted by the Czech economists of the time, have indeed produced somewhat greater inequality in the Hungarian income distribution. While a similar stimulus to growth could conceivably also emanate from greater East-West trade, in view of the lopsided relationship between exports and imports to and from the Soviet Union, this alternative would be positive for Soviet growth and welfare generally.
