Accumulation Fund

Accumulation Fund

 

the part of national income that is used to expand the process of reproduction, that is, the part spent on fixed capital stock, circulating capital, and reserves. The surplus product is the source of the accumulation fund.

The accumulation fund is realized in the growth of national wealth. In physical terms, the fund consists of the means of production (buildings, structures, machinery, equipment, supplies, raw materials, fuel) used for production accumulation and commodities produced for consumption to ensure both the growth of fixed capital stock in the nonproductive sphere (houses, schools, hospitals, stadiums) and the buildup of reserves of the means of subsistence for new members of the production work force. The accumulation fund also includes the increases in the reserve and contingency funds; these funds consist of means of production and consumer goods accumulated in order to prevent interruptions in the process of reproduction.

Under capitalism, the accumulation fund is the source of capital accumulation, and it serves as the material basis for the expansion of capitalist forms and methods of exploiting the working people. In a socialist economy, the fund forms the basis for the growth and improvement of production and for the strengthening and development of socialist production relations. In value terms, approximately 60 percent of the accumulation fund of the USSR is devoted to increasing fixed productive and nonproductive assets through capital investment. Under the ninth five-year plan (1971–75), capital investments, including the replacement of worn-out capital stock, totaled 500 billion rubles. Increases in circulating capital come from the net income of enterprises and from budget and credit funds, while increases in reserves and inventories come mainly from the state budget and, to a lesser extent, from the net income of cooperative farms and the personal income of the population (home building, livestock raising).

The accumulation fund constitutes approximately one-fourth of the national income of the USSR. Socialism makes possible the optimum combination of high levels of accumulation and high growth rates in the consumption fund.

P. V. TALMINA