On Overcoming the Cost Approach to the Evaluation and Measurement of Scientific and Technological Progress

Abstract

Introduction. The article is devoted to identifying and analyzing the shortcomings of the dominant competitive-market economic scien­tific and educational paradigm and its corresponding doctrine of de­velopment in the context of global challenges in the development of civilization, including those caused by scientific and technological development. As an alternative, a utility-based approach to the eval­uation and measurement of scientific and technological progress, the use of which can bring humanity to the trajectory of truly sustaina­ble development, is proposed as a means to offset these shortcom­ings. Methods. In carrying out the study, we used theoretical scien­tific methods including comparison, analysis, synthesis, abstraction, concretization, systematic approach, and mental modeling. Results and Discussion. The sharp exacerbation of the geopolitical situation and the unprecedented aggravation of other fundamental challenges to human development in recent years empirically proves that the dominant paradigm in both the world and in the post-Soviet space, borrowed from the West competitive-market economic scientific and educational one, has a number of serious flaws. In this regard, this ar­ticle is the first to highlight the need to find and develop a new system of economic knowledge and a corresponding doctrine of socio-eco­nomic development. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that in it, the problems generated by scientific and technological pro­gress are primarily directly linked to the current competitive market doctrine of development, which puts the former's achievements in the service of profit extraction by a select few through the use of na­ture and other people as expendable (cost) resources. Secondly, the author is the first to identify and comprehensively characterize the fundamental shortcomings of the competitive-market economic sci­entific and educational paradigm, including excessive mathematical formalism, idealization of the models used, their excessive abstract­ness and detachment from practice; cost character as identification of the results of economic activity with the costs of its implementa­tion; statism as the inability to justify the emergence of more from less in the process of economic activity, i. e., economic growth and development; and the inability to adequately explain and measure scientific and technological progress. It is shown that these short­comings, on the one hand, threaten the economic sovereignty of Be­larus and Russia and their technological, economic and national se­curity. On the other hand, these defects are one of the main reasons for the emergence and current aggravation of global contradictions in the development of global civilization as a whole. Thirdly, the au­thor is the first to conclude that without eliminating the set of short­comings identified, among which the most critical are the cost focus and their fundamentally static nature, it is impossible to ensure truly sustainable, crisis-free development. A possible option for overcom­ing the static and cost-based nature of traditional approaches to the evaluation and measurement of scientific and technological progress within the framework of the utility (consumer-value) concept of eco­nomic theory is proposed. It is shown that, from this point of view, it is possible to quantitatively measure and commensurate the useful­ness of technical factors of production on the basis of an objective criterion — the savings in human labor provided by their productive use — as well as to calculate the utility effect and efficiency of new technology. Conclusion. This study made a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental shortcomings of the competitive-market economic scientific and educational paradigm and the use of the utility (con­sumer-value) approach in the assessment and measurement of sci­entific and technological progress in the context of overcoming the challenges caused by it. This opens a real prospect for overcoming the cost focus of the world economy and transitioning to truly sus­tainable development of human civilization, as proposed.