Abstract
Prices, like all other economic levers, are expected to contribute to the fullest and most rational satisfaction of social and personal needs by attaining the highest results with the lowest outlays. To do this, prices must show, with the utmost trustworthiness, what the satisfaction of different needs costs society; they must provide orientation for the choice of optimum products and optimum trends of technological progress; and they must serve as a reliable tool of economically competent planning.