  This work was carried out in 1985. It was published in Russian in Yad. Fiz.
44, 498 (1986) [English translation Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 44, 321 (1986)]. None
of these publications are available on-line. Submitting this paper to ArXiv
will make it accessible. *** A simple method is developed that makes it
possible to determine the $k$-loop coefficient of the $\beta$-function if the
operator product expansion for certain polarization operators in the $(k -1)$
loop is known. The calculation of the two-loop coefficient of the Gell-Mann-Low
function becomes trivial -- it reduces to a few algebraic operations on already
known expressions. As examples, spinor, scalar, and supersymmetric
electrodynamics are considered. Although the respective results for
$\beta^{(2)}$ are known in the literature, both the method of calculation and
certain points pertaining to the construction of the operator product expansion
are new.
