The New Economic, Social, Communitary, Productive Model

PLURAL Monthly publication of the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance economy Year 1 / Nº 1 / September 2011 The New Economic, Social, Communitary, Productive Model n How the Model works n ElThe neoliberal model vs. the New Model n The actors of the New Model www.economíayfinanzas.gob.bo MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND PUBLIC FINANCE Teléfono: 2203434 SOCIAL COMMUNICATION UNIT Edificio Palacio de Comunicaciones - piso 19 Av. Mariscal Santa Cruz Teléfono/Fax: 2364320 La Paz - Bolivia La Paz, September 2011 PLURALeconomy 1 To the reader he Ministry of Economy and Public Finance presents the first issue of the magazine Plural Economy, a periodical of system- atic dissemination of the thought of people from the University TAcademy who ventured back in the second half years of the 1990s, to begin a journey of reflection – not always understood - towards the design of an economic theory for the replacement of neo liberal- ism. Such theory is now known under the name New Economic Social Communitarian and Productive Model. This model was implemented since 2006 by the administration of President Evo Morales. For this purpose, the following pages present interviews to the Min- ister of Economy and Public Finance Mr. Luis Arce, who, in the first instance, talks about the formation of the Grupo Duende (Goblin), in which he and other scholars started the analysis of the neoliberal All the new powers of model imposed in Bolivia in August 1985 with the infamous Decree the State are aimed 21060. at making Bolivia - After other remembrances of the time, Luis Arce explains the serious- under the direction of ness of the energy, food, climate and financial crises and of macro- the public sector - a economic policies that cast doubt on the prevalence of the capitalist system, and place the industrialized countries of the northern hemi- country industrialized sphere in a precarious position, as evidenced in the financial collapse by the coordinated of the United States, Ireland or Greece, among others. action of four actors: the Bolivia, said Luis Arce, has watered in such turbulences with some private, community and comfort, because five years ago the administration of President Mo- cooperative sectors, and rales adopted measures to stimulate the domestic market and not rely exclusively on the external one; also State assume a leading role in the public sector itself planning for the economy, manage public companies, invest in the productive sector, finance projects, regulate the market players and so on. Besides, the State begun to apply income redistribution policies, to reach vulnerable groups who were neglected by the previous administrations. All the new powers of the State are aimed at turning Bolivia into a industrialized country through coordinated action by four actors: public, private, community and cooperative sectors, whose integration configures a plural model; it means a Plural Economy. In the following issues of the magazine, the reader will be provided other theoretical and practical elements that will facilitate the under- standing of the economic thought of the Bolivian women and men who contributed to the formation of the New Economic Social Com- munitarian and Productive Model. Unit of Social communication 2 Ministry of Economy and Public Finance La Paz, September 2011 La Paz, September 2011 PLURALeconomy 3 The New Economic Social Communitaty Productive Model BY MR. LUIS Alb ERTO ARCE CA T A COR A What is an economic model An economic model implies a worker’s surplus-value. Workers way of organizing the produc- are exploited by making them to tion and distribution, therefore, work more hours than are neces- a way of organizing the social sary to produce the goods and relations of production. In the depriving them of benefits. That history of mankind, there have surplus was also produced by the been several economic models exploitation of natural resources under different modes of pro- in the hands of transnational cor- It is not the claim of duction that have established porations and the private sector, the New Economic different social relations; also, so that the surplus value accrues these relations determine the to them without making the nec- Social Communitarian way in which societies are or- essary transfers to the State for it and Productive Model ganized into legal, religious and to address education and health to enter directly to the cultural aspects. for the people. change of the capitalist It is not the claim of the New Therefore, the distribution of the mode of production, Economic Social Communitar- surplus was not equitable nor ian and Productive Model en- the income so that social prob- but lay the groundwork ter directly to the change of the lems arose which ultimately led for the transition to the capitalist mode of production, to economic problems. When new mode of Socialist but lay the groundwork for the economic problems are resolved, transition to the new mode of social problems are gradually production Socialist production. eliminated. An economic model defines What is happening in Europe how economic surplus is gener- at this time is a social mobiliza- ated and distributed. A society is tion due to economic problems. sustainable over time when the There had supposedly equi- generation of surpluses is aimed table distribution of income; at the satisfaction of current and however problems now arise future needs through the distri- because people are losing their bution of this surplus in society, hard-won economic rights. For when surpluses do not satisfy example, the retirement age is the collective need, then it is nec- increasing, salaries to public essary to redistribute them ac- employees are decreasing, the cording to social needs. State is lacking investment capacity; i.e. the income distribu- In the neoliberal model, the sur- tion is becoming worse provok- plus was generated from the ing social problems. The New Model is a transition model to Socialism 4 Ministry of Economy and Public Finance La Paz, September 2011 A model of transition outs in the large cities like New York and Paris; This is a sample As already stated, at the time of the high consumption of ener- of designing of the new model, gy, in contrast to the insufficient they wondered what comes af- capacity of power generation ter the neo-liberal model, is it is in these countries. On the other socialism? Which is the ultimate hand, there is a great potential goal? or, is there an intermediate in South American countries to stage? generate energy, although they do not have the same level of This is a model of transition to demand. socialism, which will gradually solve many social problems and This situation is evident in the strengthen the economic basis nighttime pictures taken via for an adequate distribution of satellite, where we see that the economic surplus. northern hemisphere is extreme- ly lit, while the southern hemi- It was never thought to build so- sphere not. Only major cities, cialism immediately. Even Carl like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, This is a transition Marx -when speaking about the Caracas, are lit, while the rest of model towards Paris Commune- and Lenin ex- the South America and Africa are plain why is not possible the virtually in darkness. Socialism in which mechanical transition from capi- many social problems talism to socialism. There is an This growing demand for energy will be solved intermediate period. In the case in developed countries together of Bolivia, the New Economic So- with the depletion of deposits gradually while the cial Communitarian and Produc- and reserves of gas and oil in the economic basis will tive Model would allow laying world, forced several industrial- out the conditions for a transi- ized countries to seek alternative be consolidated for an tional society towards socialism. sources of power generation, in- adequate distribution cluding nuclear power. Howev- of economic surpluses The diagnosis er, the latter is being revised following the latest developments To understand the new model it in Japan. is paramount to depart from a diagnosis of the capitalist system, The food crisis was already which since 2005 already experi- warned in 2005, when the Gov- enced an acute wear expressed in ernment Plan of the MAS pro- four crisis: energy, food, climate posed measures to reach food se- and financial. However, recently curity. Food production became it was added the crisis of macro- insufficient in the world by the economic policies. growing demand for food, espe- cially in Asia, and the decline of The energy crisis is seen in the arable agricultural land on the increase and the price volatility planet. In addition, the change in of oil and natural gas, thus affect- consumption caused by the ener- ing the electrical energy costs. gy crisis because some countries used much of its land for the pro- This crisis erupted with hard- duction of bio fuels is deriving in ness of the world’s largest coun- using food for machines, instead tries, proof of this are the black- of food for people. In the New Model, the State is the fundamental actor of the economy La Paz, September 2011 PLURALeconomy 5 The third crisis of capitalism is The fourth crisis of the capital- the climate crisis. International ist system is the financial crisis; agencies have called it: “cli- the so-called financial bubble on mate change”, but it is actually Wall Street that led to a series of a climate crisis generated by the bank failures, because of the use warming of the Earth as a result of very imaginative derivatives That bubble blew up in of a disorderly production and which got out of control. In 2008 the United States after consumption and the plundering that financial bubble -which was of natural resources by the devel- expanding for 15 years in Unit- 15 years of its expansion.

Load more