he needs of its citizens. Simply put, the production figures that the economy generated did little to benefit the populace. Needless to add, in a society with a reasonable degree of political freedoms, specifically a democratic system, it can be assumed that the population would have pressed for reordering of priorities.Moreover, in a centralized economy production directives and their results may bear little relationship to reality. In Restructuring the Soviet Economy, David Dyker cites an example of production figures being met at the cost of quality control. During the 1960s extensive efforts were undertaken to improve irrigation and, consequently, agricultural production in the North Caucasus. GOSPLAN established production targets that outlined the length of pipe to be laid during set periods of time. However, meeting these centrally ordained targets proved impossible. On site engineers determined that the pipe be laid only 15 centimetres below the surface, rather than the 70 centimetres specified in order to insure that they could report having met their targets. (Dyker, 1992, P33-35) The piping was laid according to the centrally established objectives. However, it proved to be inoperable in practice as it repeatedly ruptured and flooded the adjacent fields. (Dyker, 1992, P35) While central planning permits the concentration of resources it also often neglects local conditions and results in production goals becoming overly important.Similar, problems emerged in the agricultural sector where excessive intervention by central authorities actually acted to undermine agricultural production. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, and indeed up to the present, the Soviet Union has been a net importer of grain: Unable to produce enough grain to satisfy its domestic needs despite millions of acres of some of the best agricultural land in the World. (Belozertsev and Markham, 1992, P134)Central planning also had a deleter...
