Soviet agricultural prices,rent and land cadastrest

Progress toward decentralized agriculture in which entrepreneurial initiative of Soviet farm managers could be given fuller range is impeded by the double function of Soviet agricultural prices: as factors affecting input and output decisions and as extractors of land rent. Claims that the Soviet land cadastre inhibits the setting of uniform marginal-cost prices are here examined and found wanting. The real culprits are special interest opposition, ignorance of the potential role of prices, and inability to achieve the necessary complementary reforms, which can be traced to shortcomings in Soviet agricultural economic research and education.