The basic structural features of the Soviet planned economy emerged in the period following the termination of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and the launching of the First Five Year Plan. With respect to the structure of prices, three principles were formulated as a guide to the formation of industrial wholesale prices. The first is the principle of average cost pricing; the price of a product is based on the average cost of its production in all the enterprises in that branch of industry, plus a normal profit markup of 4 to 5 percent over cost. The second is the principle of permanent prices; once the price is assigned to a product, it endures without limit of time, although from time to time prices are revised. The third is the principle of uniformity; the price of a given product is the same for all sellers and all purchasers. For decades these three principles have been presented in the general literature as the basis of price formation. In fact, certain departures were introduced in the very first years in which they were being formulated, but in the course of time the departures became increasingly massive, and the three principles have become less and less useful as a guide to the actual basis of price formation.

A variety of considerations have contributed to the evolution of price policy. There is, however, one common thread that unifies much of the history of that evolution.