To compare the "economic merit" of different systems in any careful way requires an enormous amount of work; rarely are the results as clearly set forth as in this collection of papers by the senior American expert on the Soviet economy, who has undoubtedly taught the Russians things they did not know about their own country. Most of the comparisons are between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. but the smaller Eastern countries and the members of the OECD frequently come into the picture.