The article analyzes the publication bay the Soviet economist N. P. Shmelev (1936- 2014) “Advances and Debts„, published in 1987 in the journal “New World„ and having a landmark character. The importance of this article for that time and its role in the awareness of economic reforms are shown. The measures proposed by N. P. Shmelev and their consequences. It is shown that it is necessary to treat critically any projects of reorganization of the economy that do not rely on fundamental quantitative analysis.