Economic Planning I Eco 441 Main Course
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The Challenge of Refurbished State Capitalism: Implications for the Global Political Economic Order
Schwerpunkt: Staatskapitalismus Christopher A. McNally The Challenge of Refurbished State Capitalism: Implications for the Global Political Economic Order Abstract Will the global financial crisis of 2008 represent a symbolic juncture in the geo-economics of globalization? There are differing views, with some arguing that the Washington Consensus is dead, while others holding that the fundaments of the neo-liberal global order remain intact. This article engages with this debate by putting three distinct questions analytically prior: First, is there a political economic model that actually stands in con- tradistinction to the Washington Consensus and the neo-liberal global order? Second, if there is a potential challenge to the neo-liberal order, what exactly is it? And third, if such a challenge exists, what precisely is its nature and logic as it interacts with the neo-liberal global order? This article argues that there is, indeed, a chal- lenger: refurbished forms of state capitalism. However, the nature and logic of the state capitalist challenge to the U.S.-centered neo-liberal system is fundamentally different from the Soviet challenge during the Cold War. Diverse formations of capitalism are co-dependent on the global level in the present era. Refurbished state capitalism is no exception. It represents an “in-system” challenge, since it does not attempt to actively under- mine and supplant the neo-liberal order, but rather to gain influence over it. New forms of refurbished state capitalisms are thus simultaneously in symbiosis and in rivalry with the neo-liberal global order. Key words: State capitalism, Neo-liberal Order, Washington Consensus, China, Economic Development 1. -
Computers and Economic Democracy
Rev.econ.inst. vol.1 no.se Bogotá 2008 COMPUTERS AND ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY Computadores y democracia económica Allin Cottrell; Paul Cockshott Ph.D. in Economics, professor of Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, USA, [[email protected]]. Ph.D. in Computer Science, researcher of the Glasgow University, Glasgow, United Kingdom, [[email protected]].. The collapse of previously existing socialism was due to causes embedded in its economic mechanism, which are not inherent in all possible socialisms. The article argues that Marxist economic theory, in conjunction with information technology, provides the basis on which a viable socialist economic program can be advanced, and that the development of computer technology and the Internet makes economic planning possible. In addition, it argues that the socialist movement has never developed a correct constitutional program, and that modern technology opens up opportunities for democracy. Finally, it reviews the Austrian arguments against the possibility of socialist calculation in the light of modern computational capacity and the constraints of the Kyoto Protocol. [Keywords: socialist planning, economic calculation, environmental constraints; JEL: P21, P27, P28] El colapso del socialismo anteriormente existente obedeció a causas integradas en su mecanismo económico, que no son inherentes a todos los socialismos posibles. El artículo muestra que la teoría económica marxista, junto con la informática, proporciona el fundamento para adelantar un programa económico socialista viable y que el desarrollo de la informática y de Internet hace posible la planificación económica. Además, argumenta que el movimiento socialista nunca desarrolló un programa constitucional correcto y que la tecnología moderna abre nuevas oportunidades para la democracia. -
What We Know and Do Not Know About the Natural Rate of Unemployment
Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 11, Number 1—Winter 1997—Pages 51–72 What We Know and Do Not Know About the Natural Rate of Unemployment Olivier Blanchard and Lawrence F. Katz lmost 30 years ago, Friedman (1968) and Phelps (1968) developed the concept of the "natural rate of unemployment." In what must be one of Athe longest sentences he ever wrote, Milton Friedman explained: "The natural rate of unemployment is the level which would be ground out by the Wal- rasian system of general equilibrium equations, provided that there is imbedded in them the actual structural characteristics of the labor and commodity markets, in- cluding market imperfections, stochastic variability in demands and supplies, the cost of gathering information about job vacancies and labor availabilities, the costs of mobility, and so on." Over the past three decades a large amount of research has attempted to formalize Friedman's long sentence and to identify, both theo- retically and empirically, the determinants of the natural rate. It is this body of work we assess in this paper. We reach two main conclusions. The first is that there has been considerable theoretical progress over the past 30 years. A framework has emerged, organized around two central ideas. The first is that the labor market is a market with a high level of traffic, with large flows of workers who have either lost their jobs or are looking for better ones. This by itself implies that there must be some "frictional unemployment." The second is that the nature of relations between firms and workers leads to wage setting that often differs substantially from competitive wage setting. -
Socialist Planning
Socialist Planning Socialist planning played an enormous role in the economic and political history of the twentieth century. Beginning in the USSR it spread round the world. It influenced economic institutions and economic policy in countries as varied as Bulgaria, USA, China, Japan, India, Poland and France. How did it work? What were its weaknesses and strengths? What is its legacy for the twenty-first century? Now in its third edition, this textbook is fully updated to cover the findings of the period since the collapse of the USSR. It provides an overview of socialist planning, explains the underlying theory and its limitations, looks at its implementation in various sectors of the economy, and places developments in their historical context. A new chap- ter analyses how planning worked in the defence–industry complex. This book is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in comparative economic systems and twentieth-century economic history. michael ellman is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He is the author, co- author and editor of numerous books and articles on the Soviet and Russian economies, on transition economics, and on Soviet economic and political history. In 1998, he was awarded the Kondratieff prize for his ‘contributions to the development of the social sciences’. Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 128.122.253.212 on Sat Jan 10 18:08:28 GMT 2015. http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9781139871341 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2015 Downloaded from Cambridge Books Online by IP 128.122.253.212 on Sat Jan 10 18:08:28 GMT 2015. -
Mill's "Very Simple Principle": Liberty, Utilitarianism And
MILL'S "VERY SIMPLE PRINCIPLE": LIBERTY, UTILITARIANISM AND SOCIALISM MICHAEL GRENFELL submitted for degree of Ph.D. London School of Economics and Political Science UMI Number: U048607 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U048607 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 I H^S £ S F 6SI6 ABSTRACT OF THESIS MILL'S "VERY SIMPLE PRINCIPLE'*: LIBERTY. UTILITARIANISM AND SOCIALISM 1 The thesis aims to examine the political consequences of applying J.S. Mill's "very simple principle" of liberty in practice: whether the result would be free-market liberalism or socialism, and to what extent a society governed in accordance with the principle would be free. 2 Contrary to Mill's claims for the principle, it fails to provide a clear or coherent answer to this "practical question". This is largely because of three essential ambiguities in Mill's formulation of the principle, examined in turn in the three chapters of the thesis. 3 First, Mill is ambivalent about whether liberty is to be promoted for its intrinsic value, or because it is instrumental to the achievement of other objectives, principally the utilitarian objective of "general welfare". -
State Capitalism
THE FRENCH STATE CAPITALISM IN COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Robert Boyer Institute of the Americas, Paris EACES Workshop "The Rise of State Capitalism: consequences for economic and political development”, HSE bulding in Armyanskiy Pereulok 4, bldg. 2, Room 418, Moscow, April 10 and 11, 2019 INTRODUCTION 1. Back to Berlin Wall collapse: the idea of an irreversible victory of the synergy between markets and democracy 2. Post the Great 2008 crisis : the structural instability of finance led capitalism, the State as a rescuer of last resort 3. Against the unequal distribution of the benefits from internationalisation: National sovereignty is defended by new movements and parties. Has the time of State capitalism come back? SYNOPSIS I. The concept of state capitalism in long run historical perspective. II. The contemporary debate: is state capitalism the successor of liberal capitalism? III. A taxonomy of various brands of state capitalisms. IV. How specific is the French state capitalism of the Golden Age? V. Was the demise of state French capitalism ineluctable? VI. Is China a new form of state capitalism and can it be exported? VII. Are multinationals and states trading place? I - THE CONCEPT OF STATE CAPITALISM IN LONG RUN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. 1. The same word but quite different meanings and configurations 2. The State is born before the rise of capitalism 3. Its nature evolves at each step of capitalist development 4. The rise of China redefines the debate around State Capitalism. Figure 1 – A brief survey of the long run transformation of the State Capitalism nexus II - THE CONTEMPORARY DEBATE: IS STATE CAPITALISM THE SUCCESSOR OF LIBERAL CAPITALISM? 1. -
01-09: “Macroeconomic Policy and Sustainability”
G-DAE Working Paper No. 01-09: “Macroeconomic Policy and Sustainability” GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE WORKING PAPER NO. 01-09 MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND SUSTAINABILITY Jonathan Harris July 2001 Tufts University Medford MA 02155, USA http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae Ó Copyright 2001 Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University G-DAE Working Paper No. 01-09: “Macroeconomic Policy and Sustainability” MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND SUSTAINABILITY Jonathan Harris [email protected] Abstract The trend in mainstream economic thought about macroeconomic policy has been towards minimalism. In the optimistic Keynesian phase of the 1960's, it was assumed that both fiscal and monetary policy were effective tools for macroeconomic management. But the influence of monetarist and New Classical critiques has led to a gradual erosion of theoretical support for activist government policy. First fiscal policy fell by the wayside, perceived as too slow and possibly counterproductive in its impacts. Then New Classical and rational expectations critiques suggested that even monetary policy was ineffective. Thus the role of government policy has been reduced to a cautious effort not to make things worse B in effect a return to an economics of laissez-faire. In contrast, a sustainability perspective implies that radical and proactive government policies are required to achieve economic development that is both socially just and ecologically sound. The path of laissez-faire leads to increasing intra- and international inequality as well as increasing environmental destruction. To some extent the course of market economies can be steered through the use of sound microeconomic policies. But the fundamental redirection required for sustainable development cannot be achieved without reorienting macroeconomic policy also. -
The Road to Serfdom
F. A. Hayek The Road to Serfdom ~ \ L f () : I~ ~ London and New York ( m v ..<I S 5 \ First published 1944 by George Routledge & Sons First published in Routledge Classics 2001 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4 RN 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Repri nted 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor CJ( Francis Group, an informa business © 1944 F. A. Hayek Typeset in Joanna by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 10: 0-415-25543-0 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0-415-25389-6 (pbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-25543-1 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-25389-5 (pbk) CONTENTS PREFACE vii Introduction 1 The Abandoned Road 10 2 The Great Utopia 24 3 Individualism and Collectivism 33 4 The "Inevitability" of Planning 45 5 Planning and Democracy 59 6 Planning and the Rule of Law 75 7 Economic Control and Totalitarianism 91 8 Who, Whom? 1°5 9 Security and Freedom 123 10 Why the Worst Get on Top 138 11 The End ofTruth 157 12 The Socialist Roots of Nazism 171 13 The Totalitarians in our Midst 186 14 Material Conditions and Ideal Ends 207 15 The Prospects of International Order 225 2 THE GREAT UTOPIA What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven. -
THE MAGIC MONEY TREE: the Case Against Modern Monetary Theory
THE MAGIC MONEY TREE: The case against Modern Monetary Theory Antony P. Mueller The Adam Smith Institute has an open access policy. Copyright remains with the copyright holder, but users may download, save and distribute this work in any format provided: (1) that the Adam Smith Institute is cited; (2) that the web address adamsmith.org is published together with a prominent copy of this notice; (3) the text is used in full without amendment [extracts may be used for criticism or review]; (4) the work is not re–sold; (5) the link for any online use is sent to info@ adamsmith.org. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect any views held by the publisher or copyright owner. They are published as a contribution to public debate. © Adam Smith Research Trust 2019 CONTENTS About the author 4 Executive summary 5 Introduction 7 1 What is Modern Monetary Theory? 10 2 Mosler Economics 16 3 Theoretical foundations 21 4 The Neo-Marxist Roots of MMT 26 5 Main points of critique 34 Conclusion 45 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Professor Antony P. Mueller studied economics, political science, and philosophy along with foreign relations in Germany with study stays in the United States (Center for the Study of Public Choice in Blacksburg, Va.), in England, and in Spain and obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). He was a Fulbright Scholar in the United States and a visiting professor in Latin America - including two stays at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin (UFM) in Guatemala. -
'Real Utopias'?
ANNUAL CONFERENCE - ASSOCIATION FOR HETERODOX ECONOMICS ECONOMICS, PLURALISM AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES London, July 14-16, 2006 Incentives for ‘Real Utopias’? Motivations, Cooperation and Alternative Market Models João Rodrigues José Castro Caldas DINÂMIA, DINÂMIA and ISCTE Lisbon, Portugal Dep. of Economics, [email protected] ISCTE Lisbon, Portugal [email protected] Abstract In this paper, a brief account of John Stuart Mill’s views on socialism is given, exploring the possibilities that he envisioned for building a culture of cooperation which fosters other-regarding motivations and the articulation of this culture with pecuniary incentives and markets. Furthermore, the recent egalitarian proposal, made by Bowles and Gintis (1998), is scrutinized, and the lines of continuity and departure with Mill are emphasized. Some of the problems with these two visions of an alternative socioeconomic order, both in terms of desirability and feasibility, are also explored. 1. Introduction John Stuart Mill’s attempt is perhaps one of the first to articulate a vision of a socio- economic order that combines democratic association in production and markets in exchange thus obtaining workers emancipation in a decentralized economy. For Mill, socialism was an extension of his liberal premises on property and personal liberty. But his articulation and advocacy of the ultimate compatibility between the principles of liberalism and socialism was always seen with suspicion and scepticism by free- marketers and Marxists alike, and this may account for the neglect of this aspect of Mill’s political economy. Presently, however, after the perceived failures of central planning, associational socialism has re-emerged and is advanced as a viable alternative. -
Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Congdon, Tim Book — Published Version Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism Provided in Cooperation with: Edward Elgar Publishing Suggested Citation: Congdon, Tim (2007) : Keynes, the Keynesians and Monetarism, ISBN 978-1-84720-139-3, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781847206923 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/182382 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode www.econstor.eu © Tim Congdon, 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. -
Background Information - Evolution of ECLAC Ideas
Background information - Evolution of ECLAC ideas 1. Origins and the 1950s: industrialization 2. 1960s: "reforms to facilitate industrialization" 3. 1970s: reorientation of development "styles" towards social homogeneity and diversification to promote exports 4. 1980s: overcoming the external debt crisis through "adjustment with growth" 5. 1990s: changing production patterns with social equity 6. Recent work For over fifty years, ECLAC has been the main global source of information and analysis concerning the economic and social situation in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has also been the only intellectual centre in the entire region that has been able to generate its own analytical approach, and consistently maintain and refine it throughout that period. The ECLAC method has been enriched by a fertile interaction between the inductive method and the theoretical abstraction originally formulated by Prebisch. The method was constructed around the periphery-centre dichotomy, which performed a twofold analytical role: first, it affirmed that the periphery-centre structure created a specific "periphery" pattern of integration into the world economy, which consisted of producing goods and services for which there was little growth in international demand, and importing goods and services for which the internal demand was rapidly expanding, while assimilating consumption patterns and technologies that were appropriate for the centre but often unsuited to the availability of resources and the income level of the periphery; second, the periphery socioeconomic structure determined a particular mode of industrialization, introducing technical progress and growth, as well as a particular way of absorbing the labour force and distributing income. Under the influence of intellectuals such as Celso Furtado, Aníbal Pinto and Aldo Ferrer, the perspective of the historical formation of the region's countries was added to the structuralist dimension, forming the "historical- structuralist" method of research and analysis.