Quality of Output, aggregate of the qualities of a product enabling it to meet specific production and personal needs in accordance with its function. As the productive forces develop, people tend to better appreciate the quality of things and to obtain better insights as to their utility. At the same time, quality is increasing, since higher-quality output usually corresponds to a higher level of production. In political economy, the "quality of output" category is inseparable from the category of social use value. Both use value and the quality of output are the results of concrete labour. They are created in the course of production, and are realised in consumption where their useful properties are assessed. "Since the goods are bought,” Marx wrote, "by the customer not because they have a value, but because they are ’ use value’ and may be used for various purposes, therefore it is self-evident 1) that use values are ‘assessed’, i. e., their quality is tested (in much the same way as their quantity is measured, weighed, etc.); 2) that if various goods may be substituted for each other for the same end purposes, preference is given to one or another kind, etc., etc.” (Marx/Engels, Werke, Vol. 19, p. 372). Under the socialist system raising the quality of output has become a key issue of economic development. It is essential for all aspects of the working people’s economic activities. Greater efficiency of social production depends on a host of factors, among which raising quality is crucial. This has a considerable impact on the balanced and proportional development of the economy, and on the realisation of products between Departments I and II of social production and within them. The size of the compensation fund of the aggregate social product and, consequently, the rates and the absolute magnitude of the increase in the national income are directly dependent on the quality of the means of production, especially the implements of labour. The quality of output directly affects the rational utilisation of the accumulation fund, the more rapid turnover of circulating assets, and the reduction of circulation costs and consumption, etc. If the quality of machinery, especially indicators like reliability, wear, productivity, etc. fall, then in order to meet its demands, society has to allocate additional resources, increase productive accumulation, and is compelled to expand the output. On the contrary, the economically substantiated increase in the useful properties of machines and equipment, although often entailing the allocation of additional funds, turns out to be more feasible from the point of view of economic interests than to simply increase the output of items of previous quality. The use of better equipment which corresponds, in terms of quality, to the best machinery available in the world, makes it possible to meet society’s needs more fully and with less expenditures, i. e., to obtain an economic benefit. This benefit is directly dependent on the quality of each unit produced and on the scale of its production. Meeting of society’s growing needs not only through expanding the volume of use values, but primarily through better quality of these use values, corresponds to intensive production development and is a typical feature of the scientific and technological revolution. Higher quality of output is an important factor in raising the working people’s living standards, of the normal functioning of the domestic market, and of increasing the country’s export potential. In the Soviet Union a great deal of attention is paid to raising the quality of output. A series of measures has been planned to orient the economic mechanism to a greater degree to raising the quality of output.