Rate of Accumulation, the ratio of the accumulation fund and the entire national income, expressed in percentage terms. The rate of accumulation in socialist society depends on the volume of the surplus product, the character, scope and complexity of the tasks involved in economic and social development and being tackled in the given period. The correct ratio in the national income of the accumulation fund and the consumption fund provides the foundations for modernising production and raising the material and cultural well-being of the working people. Increasing the rate of accumulation, which, in socialist society, is not an end in itself, ensures an expansion of production, a rise in its technical level on the basis of the broad introduction of the achievements of science and engineering, progressive technology, of advanced methods for organising production and work. At the same time, the dynamic development of social production and rise in its efficiency create the basis for a steady growth of living standards. Today’s ratio of the accumulation and consumption funds in the USSR and other socialist countries makes it possible simultaneously to ensure stable high rates of economic development and improve living standards.