Some problems of measuring the impact of R&D upon the efficiency of social production

A critical analysis of works by Soviet authors, devoted to the problem of assessing the contribution of science to the efficiency of social production, is carried out. The computational results of two different versions of production function and a factor analysis technique are also presented, based on the same statistical data of the 8th and the 9th Five-Year-Plan periods. The numerical value of economic efficiency of investment in R & D, which was determined by relating the benefits from R & D to the associated expenditures, has been found to be 2.1–11 times higher than the profitability of plant investment. The classification and analysis of the major factors, contributing to the growth of public production efficiency, using a multiple correlation technique, show, that a 1% increase in R & D expenditures is associated with a 0.43% rise in labor productivity which also confirms the higher productivity of R & D investments.