of enterprise
managers to acquiesce in the loss of their independence. Most of the
organizational and personnel problems were reported to have been
resolved by the end of 1971, and in March 1973 party chief Todor Zhivkov
reported that further consolidation of the new management structure had
been achieved. In the long run, greater efficiency of economic
management is to be attained through pervasive automation of all
management functions with the aid of a synchronized national network of
electronic computers.

Under the new system of trusts, profits of individual branches are
pooled and redistributed by the parent organization. Highly productive
branches may thus find themselves in the position of having to share
their profits with unproductive branches. This feature, some observers
believe, may reduce incentives to raise the level of efficiency,
increase output, and improve the quality of products.

STRUCTURE AND GROWTH

National income (net national product, which excludes most services not
directly related to production) was officially reported to have been
10.41 billion leva (for value of the lev--see Glossary) in 1971,
compared to 10.53 billion leva in 1970. Nevertheless, the official index
of national income growth showed an increase of 7 percent from 1970 to
1971. This example illustrates the difficulty of using official
statistics to describe the structure and growth of the economy or
structural changes over a period of time.

According to the 1971 statistical yearbook for Bulgaria, the respective
shares of industry and agriculture in national income in 1970 were 49
and 22 percent. The yearbook issued in 1972, however, cited 1970 figures
of 55 and 17 percent instead. According to the earlier source, the
proportion of national income contributed by industry increased by 6.5
percent in the 1960-70 period, whereas the subsequent source shows a
growth of 17 percent for the same period. Similarly, the contribution of
agriculture to national income was reported to have declined by 36.4 and
by 33.3 percent. An upward trend in the contribution of trade to
national income was shown in the earlier source, but a declining trend
appeared in the latter.

The differences in statistical presentation resulted primarily from a
major revision of wholesale prices, introduced by the government in
January 1971. Price revisions made in earlier years, changes in the
composition of individual statistical categories and other
m