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This paper examines the empirical evidence for bilateralism in the recenttrade of the Comecon countries and analyses its sources in socialist foreigntrade planning and practice. Particular reference is made to the Sovietexperience; and since economic size and degree of industrialization have beenfound to act as important determinants of a country's aggregate index ofbilateralism, comparisons are drawn between the Soviet and US trade patterns.While there is some evidence of unusual bilateralism in Soviet trade as a whole,the results show for both the Soviet Union and the US a marked variancedepending upon the monetary region with which trade is conducted. The evidencesuggests that it is the constraints imposed by 'currency' and 'commodity'inconvertibility in trade with the Comecon countries which largely explain thebilateral nature of Soviet trade in the aggregate. The analysis is then extendedto trade among all the Comecon countries, and Comecon efforts to multilateralizeregional trade are found to have been, through 1970, unsuccessful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resettlement of displaced persons from Eastern Europe on sugar and cotton plantations in Louisiana and Mississippi presents serious problems of accommodation and adjustment. This paper reports the findings of a study made during the first year of the program. It shows the demographic characteristics of DP's scheduled for the two states and describes their conditions of work and living. The conclusion is drawn that a considerable proportion of the DP's appeared to be well accommodated. The success of their resettlement is believed to be largely due to the fact that mechanization and diversification of agriculture in the region result in a demand for that kind of labor which the DP's represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an informative paper about the position and situation of R & D (applied) in Eastern and Western Europe. Based on different sources the study also shows a part of the growing differences (different opinions) about importance, understanding and methods to evaluate the efficiency of R & D. It also discusses the "double concept" of R & D efficiency, namely as a summary of successful research results and product application with marketing effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intent of this paper is to examine empirically the record of Socialist countries in regard to the equalization of regional development. In this group will be included only the Socialist countries of East Central Europe (including, obviously, the Soviet Union). The emphasis will be on the period since World War II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY A number of debates have taken place among Western economists about efficient allocation under 'socialism', interplay of objectives and controls under alternative modes of socialist organization', and about ways of classifying 'socialist' changes and transitions. The paper presents the main thrusts of these debates and examines various interpretations of the concept of a 'socialist economy' including those originating in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The study is comprised of three parts. The first considers the attempts to define polar types of 'socialist organization'. The second discusses efforts to ascertain the rationale of socialist changes and to determine the direction of such changes. The third examines the key problems involved in the transition from one system to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the article "Digital Computers in Eastern Europe," by Alston S. Householder, published in the December 1955 issue of the journal "Computers and Automation."

The article compares the growth performance of the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe with that of European economies characterized by decentralized decision making. The investigation covers five centrally planned economies, four Western European countries and Yugoslavia, which has developed a decentralized socialist system. The choice of countries included in the study reflects a desire to have a representative group operating under different economic systems at comparable levels of development although it has, to some extent, been constrained by the availability of data. The article covers the time period from 1953 to 1965. The initial years have been selected to avoid effects of postwar reconstruction in several countries in question while the choice of the terminal year has been dictated by data availabilities. The investigation is limited to manufacturing industry where the most important structural changes have taken place. As an indication of the relative level of economic development of countries in question estimates of per capita gross national product calculated by the use of purchasing power parities for the year 1955 is presented in the article.

This article studies the Jewish culture of Eastern Europe which was not possible earlier because of the wartime conditions. This paper is a report from the section studying East European Jews of the Columbia University project, Research in Contemporary Cultures. The article employs some standard procedures of cultural anthropology, draws upon some methods of clinical psychology and has developed some additional lines of research. The article attempts to study the doctrines of a Covenant regarded as sacred orders by the Jews. The indivisibility of secular and religious pursuits within the Jewish community are also studied in depth. Terms like "Tora," which is accorded like God's law is also highlighted in the article. The author of the article says that the Tora is the ultimate authority for any aspect of shtetl life. Its rules and maxims include six hundred and thirteen mitsvos or Divine Commandments, handed down by Moses, and these--with later interpretations and elaborations by the Sages--form the only conceivable basis of behavior for the traditional Jew.

This article examines the government policies on fertility control in Eastern Europe. Although demographers from the communist countries continue to maintain that overpopulation in the Malthusian sense is possible only under capitalism, some East European demographers now concede that a form of overpopulation may, at times and under certain conditions, exist in a communist society. In this connection, the ideological framework for an optimum population policy under communism has been developed, and demographers have been given the task of determining what the optimum population is and how it is to be attained. There has been considerable ferment on the issue of fertility control in both the literature and action programs of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. All the communist countries of Eastern Europe except Albania and East Germany have relaxed laws restricting abortions and conducted campaigns for the spread of contraceptives.

The article discusses the book "Yivo Annual of Jewish Social Science," which analyzes the social aspects of American-Jewish life. Most of the contributions to this volume could be viewed as falling into two categories, there are descriptive historical papers dealing with Jews in Eastern Europe, and others which analyze sociologically certain aspects of contemporary American-Jewish life. It describes Jews in the same region of Russian Poland and living during the same period, but with very diverse backgrounds and activities. There is again diversity in the groups like, ultra-Orthodox immigrant Hasidim and second generation secularist Jews.

This article presents a review of studies on the occurrence of Melampsora pinitorqua in Central and Eastern Europe. The incidence of the disease in young Scots pine plantations is dependent on the presence of the alternate host, Populus tremula, in the region. A comparison of the incidence with climatic conditions during several years in Poland, using Walter Climate-diagrams demonstrated that spring drought reduces the occurrence of disease. New studies on the biology of the pathogen, methods of culture in vitro and methods of controlling epidemics are reviewed. Of special interest are studies executed in Soviet Union in controlling the disease by certain bio-substances.

This article examines patterns of marriage behavior in Eastern Europe around 1900 and their relation to population growth in the region during this period. Eastern Europe is shown to have exhibited two patterns of marriage behavior around 1900: late marriage and moderate levels of celibacy in the Czech, Baltic, and Polish provinces, and early marriage and low levels of celibacy in the Balkans. Contrasting kinship and religious institutions, thus making them highly resistant to change, buttressed these patterns. As Eastern Europe entered the rapid-growth stage of the demographic transition at the turn of the century, people accommodated their marriage behavior to rising numbers. Especially important in their accommodation were the contrasting levels of economic development in Eastern Europe. In the Czech, Baltic and Polish territories, a relatively high level of development, largely responsible for the population increase, was involved in a complex process including ongoing marriage behavior, migration, an unbalanced sex ratio, and growing opportunities for female employment in industry. This process resulted in a reinforcement of the established marriage patterns, enabling the population to limit its natural increase.

Examines the role of market research in foreign trade in Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary. Sources of information for market research; Discussion on the expanding market and competition in Eastern Europe; Details on industrial collaboration and cooperation in the region.

Presents a functionalist approach to East-West cooperation in Europe. Relationship between security and cooperation; Constraint posed by the lack of convertibility of Eastern currency; Suggestions for economic cooperation; Possibilities and projects with an institutional framework.

Presents the abstract of a study on the analysis of Estonian population movements.

This article reports on some of the methodological problems encountered in the present work to compare the national income, and its components, of the planned economies of Eastern Europe within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) as of June 1966. The chief aim of the study is to compare the national income of these countries. Starting from the expenditure side of the national income the comparison covers two basic aggregates: consumption, and accumulation. Industrial and agricultural production, that is, the two most important branches of production, are also compared, in some degree independently of the comparison of national income, but in essence by means of similar methods using several types of indicators. The results of these large scale computations based on a great quantity of data permit a many-sided comparative analysis of the countries. The main task is, of course, to determine the proportions of the aggregates studied and of the physical volumes of the components of the aggregates in the countries, i.e., to construct inter-regional indices of volume. In addition, the results obtained make it possible to show the most important characteristics of the production and consumption patterns of the countries. The comparison gives highly valuable information on the real purchasing power of the currencies.

The article discusses the constitutional trends of Eastern Europe countries. During the outbreak of World War I, an independent status and parliamentary forms of government emerged in the region. On their effort to establish stable political regimes, countries in the region achieved liberal parliamentary institutions. However, due to the first-war difficulties, several countries adopted various forms of authoritarian methods.

This article focuses on the pattern of foreign trade in Eastern Europe and its relation to the economic development policy. In this article, attention is centered upon the Eastern European members of the Soviet Bloc of countries. While their share in total European foreign trade has not been great, the size of their composite population and agricultural and industrial production makes their adherence to the Soviet orbit, a significant contribution to the strength of the Soviet world. All of the Eastern European countries have given prime attention to the development of heavy industry rather than to the expansion of agriculture or light industry. Agricultural production in Eastern Europe has certainly not significantly exceeded the prewar level and does not appear even to have reached it. In comparison with the import-national income ratios of the Eastern European countries, the imports of the Soviet Union have been a negligible ratio of Soviet national income. Both in 1937 and in 1951, Soviet imports totaled less than 2 per cent of Soviet national income.

This article talks about agriculture in Eastern Europe. As a result of overpopulation and underproduction, the agricultural output per head of the population of Eastern Europe is significantly low as compared with that in the U.S. According to the author, the small consumption of meat and other animal products in the region greatly affects the whole character of agriculture, as a consequent lack of fertilizing manure results in low crop yields. He explained that war affected Eastern Europe's agricultural production, with military operations precluding the cultivation of soil over considerable areas, peasants being driven away from their homes and their animals being carried away for military use.

THE following dates show, in a simplified way, the past record of interest in market research in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. The English-language version of Clodwig Kapferer's pioneering volume on market research in Europe was published in 1956, followed by the German edition in 1963. The Hungarian translation did not appear until 1969, yet the book reviewer thought that the publication was justified even at that late date [I]. The present situation, that of the 1970s, is a very different story. As a result of industrialization, rising incomes and economic reforms, there is a great upsurge of interest in all aspects of marketing in Eastern Europe, including market research theory and practice. Market intelligence activities in the region are now carried out by scores of enterprises and various research institutes as well as individual scholars and groups at universities. Despite a late start, the production orientation of managers, and the existence of sellers' markets, impressive progress is being made. Research methodology and practices are being adapted as well as redesigned to carry out the "socialist marketing task". Market researchers probe their home markets for both domestic and imported goods. At the same time, neighbouring socialist nations, developed capitalist economies and developing countries are being investigated for their export potentials. In this article, we focus chiefly on research within and for East European markets, mentioning briefly how export markets are explored. We comment on the role of market research in socialist economies, discuss ways of organizing for market intelligence pursuits, and analyse the growing markets of the region with the aid of case studies. Much of the specific information cited refers to the Hungarian experience under the New... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the social and economic factors as the causes of fertility decline in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union II. Firstly, the article examines the inter-relations between fertility and various economic and social characteristics. Secondly, it makes an attempt to reveal the motivations underlying the attitudes responsible for the observed fertility differentials. Thirdly, the differentials are discussed in relation to changes in the structure of these populations during the period under review. Factors such as urbanization and regional divergences, socio-occupational differentials, levels of education and income, employment of women, and housing conditions are given special attention. The broad conclusion is that the fertility differentials usually found in western societies are also relevant to the socialist countries of eastern Europe, and that the dramatic falls in fertility in the 1950s and the 1960s have largely been the outcome of the deep and rapid structural changes, particularly those associated with urbanization, educational attainment and the incidence of female employment.

Comments on trade relations between Eastern European countries and developing countries, particularly India. Information on the foreign direct investments of the U.S. in developing countries; Details on the foreign investment policy of India; Role of India in export and manufacturing growth.

The article discusses issues related to the training of international rural sociologists. There is neither a particular European perspective nor a typical European rural sociologist stricto sensu. However, even if there does not exist a specific European rural sociology the awareness of the importance of rural social problems is growing constantly throughout Western and Eastern Europe. In spite of all national, regional and ideological differences common agreement has been reached at least among scientists that an intensive study of rural social problems is urgently required in a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing world. But what means even more, administrators, practitioners and last but not least policy makers, have slowly become conscious of the fact that rural sociology might be able to contribute towards the solution of rural and agricultural problems. And what is still more, the agricultural economists discovered, however reluctantly, that rural sociology was coming of age and had developed even quantitative.