DOCSLIB.ORG

Material Relations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Material Relations Chapter 3 Material Relations Economic Utilities of Direct Democracy Economics is not the exclusive purview of any particular ideology nor synony- mous with capitalism. Rather, economics is a field of study examining how a society can meet as many of our unlimited ‘wants’ in the most efficient manner with our limited resources resulting in utility maximization.1 Specifically, according to the law of declining marginal utility, the satisfaction derived from consuming an additional unit of a good or service yields less satisfaction from the consumption of the preceding unit. When you are very hungry, your first gyro sandwich will give you a lot of satisfaction but you may want more. The second gyro sandwich will give you satisfaction too but not as much as the first one when you were on an empty stomach (which is why retailers drop the price for the second item: ‘buy one at full price get the second at half off’). An efficient economy aims to maximize total societal utility. In general, for an eco- nomic system to be viable, economists believe that it must be capable of addressing the fundamental questions outlined in Table 3.1. As outlined in Table 3.1 capitalism is a system based on private ownership of the means of production, free markets, free prices set by supply and demand, and distribution based on capital ownership and unequal income. Credit and banks are private enterprises complimented by quasi-governmental institu- tions such as the Federal Reserve. Money represents debt in that it is issued by a central bank to the government with interest as part of the fractional reserve system. Investment decisions are also by and large private or governmentally driven by the private sector. The Soviet model, as a real-world example of Marxism/top-down socialism, was based on State ownership of productive resources, and central planning replacing free markets and prices, while it maintained a system of distribution based on unequal income. In Soviet econ- omies credit was State controlled with no banking system in the Western sense other than the State Bank (Gosbank) referred to in the West as Monobank.2 Monobank included Sperbank (Savings Bank) as a utility for household savings 1 It is assumed that a rational actor will try to obtain the greatest value, satisfaction, or utility possible from the least amount of expenditure in order to maximize the total value, satisfac- tion, or utility derived based on available resources. 2 Kennett and Lieberman, 1992: 134–136. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004262751_005 <UN> 86 Chapter 3 Table 3.1 Fundamental questions for an economy. System Capitalism Marxism-Socialism Direct democracy United States ussr Ownership of Private State Societal productive resources Coordination Markets Central planning Utility markets Setting prices Markets State Utility markets Allocative efficiency Structural Structural Efficient misallocations misallocations Banking system Central bank/private State bank (Gosbank) Public utility Credit Decentralized/private Centralized/state Public utility Money Fractional reserve Bookkeeping money Utility currency Resource use Unsustainable Wasteful Sustainable What to produce Profitable goods Basic goods & Needed goods & & services services services first How to produce Economic efficiency Economic efficiency Socioeconomic efficiency Distribution Ownership of capital Political power & Equal labor & unequal wage labor unequal wage labor Can the system adapt Guiding function Central planning Guiding function of prices of relative prices deposits, Stroibank (Investment Bank) used by central planners to allocate long-term investment funds, and Vneshortgbank (Foreign Trade Bank) for international transactions.3 Money was strictly controlled by the State Bank and was mostly bookkeeping money.4 It is difficult to sketch-out and evaluate basic principles of numerous non- market models as these are prefigurative, therefore open to their characteriza- tion as utopian. They have some similarities and differences but in general most utopian non-market socialists such as Albert and Hahnel (who do not consider their model utopian) reject markets for various reasons including the view that they undercut solidarity, but they also reject central planning as do most contemporary utopians.5 Albert and Hahnel’s parecon is a post-capitalist 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Albert and Hahnel, 1991. <UN>.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Number 32 the Second Currency in the Soviet Union: on the Use of Checks in "Valuta-Rubles" by Soviet Citizens
    NUMBER 32 THE SECOND CURRENCY IN THE SOVIET UNION: ON THE USE OF CHECKS IN "VALUTA-RUBLES" BY SOVIET CITIZENS by Dietrich Andre Loeber Fellow, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies COLLOQUIUM April 18, 1978 ,. Preliminary draft. Not to be quoted or cited without the author's permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page # I. The Question Posed 1 II. How the Second Currency System Works 2 1. Rubles and Valuta-Rubles 2 2. Valuta-Checks 2 3. Administration of the Valuta-Check System 3 4. Persons Entitled to Use the Valuta-Check System 4 5. Where do Valuta-Checks Circulate 6 6. What Can be Bought for Valuta-Checks 7 7. And at What Prices 8 8. How Long a Second Currency Has Been Used 8 III. Enjoying the Advantages: The Economic Side 10 IV. Facing up to Reality in the Statutes: Legal Aspects 11 V. Uneasy Compromise: Ideological Implications 12 VI. Control of the Consequences: The Socio-Political Dimension 14 Appendix 1-3 Terms Used Explained on Page Val uta-Check 3 Valuta-Ruble 2 Val uta-Store 3 © D.~A~ Loeber 1978 THE SECOND CURRENCY IN THE SOVIET UNION: ON THE USE OF CHECKS IN "VALUTA-RUBLES" BY SOVIET CITIZENS by Dietrich Andre Loeber Fellow, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies I. THE QUESTION POSED The title of this paper may seem provocative. We are used to thinking that there is just one currency in the Soviet Union - the ruble. I thought so myself until I spent my sabbatical in ~1oscow last year. There I saw that a second currency in fact circulates in the USSR.
    [Show full text]
  • Revolution in Real Time: the Russian Provisional Government, 1917
    ODUMUNC 2020 Crisis Brief Revolution in Real Time: The Russian Provisional Government, 1917 ODU Model United Nations Society Introduction seventy-four years later. The legacy of the Russian Revolution continues to be keenly felt The Russian Revolution began on 8 March 1917 to this day. with a series of public protests in Petrograd, then the Winter Capital of Russia. These protests But could it have gone differently? Historians lasted for eight days and eventually resulted in emphasize the contingency of events. Although the collapse of the Russian monarchy, the rule of history often seems inventible afterwards, it Tsar Nicholas II. The number of killed and always was anything but certain. Changes in injured in clashes with the police and policy choices, in the outcome of events, government troops in the initial uprising in different players and different accidents, lead to Petrograd is estimated around 1,300 people. surprising outcomes. Something like the Russian Revolution was extremely likely in 1917—the The collapse of the Romanov dynasty ushered a Romanov Dynasty was unable to cope with the tumultuous and violent series of events, enormous stresses facing the country—but the culminating in the Bolshevik Party’s seizure of revolution itself could have ended very control in November 1917 and creation of the differently. Soviet Union. The revolution saw some of the most dramatic and dangerous political events the Major questions surround the Provisional world has ever known. It would affect much Government that struggled to manage the chaos more than Russia and the ethnic republics Russia after the Tsar’s abdication.
    [Show full text]
  • Counter-Intelligence in a Command Economy
    Counter-Intelligence in a Command Economy Mark Harrison* Department of Economics and CAGE, University of Warwick Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University Inga Zaksauskienė** Faculty of History, Vilnius University Abstract We provide the first thick description of the counter-intelligence function in a command economy of the Soviet type. Based on documentation from Soviet Lithuania, the paper considers the KGB (secret police) as a market regulator, commissioned to prevent the disclosure of secret government business and forestall the disruption of government plans. Where market regulation in open societies is commonly intended to improve market transparency, competition, and fair treatment of consumers and employees, KGB regulation was designed to enforce secrecy, monopoly, and discrimination. One consequence of KGB regulation of the labour market may have been adverse selection for talent. We argue that the Soviet economy was designed to minimize the costs. Keywords: communism, command economy, discrimination, information, loyalty, regulation, security, surveillance, Soviet Union. JEL Codes: N44, P21. * Mail: Department of Economics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]. ** Mail: Universiteto g. 7, LT-01513 Vilnius, Lithuania. Email: [email protected]. First draft: 26 April 2013. This version: 11 December 2014. Counter-Intelligence in a Command Economy Data Appendix Table
    [Show full text]
  • The Monetary Legacy of the Soviet Union / Patrick Conway
    ESSAYS IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE ESSAYS IN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE are published by the International Finance Section of the Department of Economics of Princeton University. The Section sponsors this series of publications, but the opinions expressed are those of the authors. The Section welcomes the submission of manuscripts for publication in this and its other series. Please see the Notice to Contributors at the back of this Essay. The author of this Essay, Patrick Conway, is Professor of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written extensively on the subject of structural adjustment in developing and transitional economies, beginning with Economic Shocks and Structural Adjustment: Turkey after 1973 (1987) and continuing, most recently, with “An Atheoretic Evaluation of Success in Structural Adjustment” (1994a). Professor Conway has considerable experience with the economies of the former Soviet Union and has made research visits to each of the republics discussed in this Essay. PETER B. KENEN, Director International Finance Section INTERNATIONAL FINANCE SECTION EDITORIAL STAFF Peter B. Kenen, Director Margaret B. Riccardi, Editor Lillian Spais, Editorial Aide Lalitha H. Chandra, Subscriptions and Orders Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Conway, Patrick J. Currency proliferation: the monetary legacy of the Soviet Union / Patrick Conway. p. cm. — (Essays in international finance, ISSN 0071-142X ; no. 197) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-88165-104-4 (pbk.) : $8.00 1. Currency question—Former Soviet republics. 2. Monetary policy—Former Soviet republics. 3. Finance—Former Soviet republics. I. Title. II. Series. HG136.P7 no. 197 [HG1075] 332′.042 s—dc20 [332.4′947] 95-18713 CIP Copyright © 1995 by International Finance Section, Department of Economics, Princeton University.
    [Show full text]
  • The Limits of Lending: Banks and Technology Adoption Across Russia
    The limits of lending: banks and technology adoption across Russia Çagatay˘ Bircan and Ralph De Haas Summary We exploit historical and contemporaneous variation in local credit markets across Russia to identify the impact of credit constraints on firm-level innovation. We find that access to bank credit helps firms to adopt existing products and production processes that are new to them. They introduce these technologies either with the help of suppliers and clients or by acquiring external know-how. We find no evidence that bank credit also stimulates firm innovation through in-house research and development. This suggests that banks can facilitate the diffusion of technologies within developing countries but that their role in pushing the technological frontier is limited. Keywords: credit constraints; firm innovation; technological change JEL Classification: D22, F63, G21, O12, O31 Contact details: Çagatay˘ Bircan, One Exchange Square, London EC2A 2JN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 20 7338 8508; Fax: +44 20 7338 6111; Email: [email protected] Çagatay˘ Bircan is a Research Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Ralph De Haas is Director of Research at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Muzaffar Ahunov and Carly Petracco provided excellent research assistance. The authors thank Randolph Bruno and Koen Schoors for sharing their data and Hans Degryse, Pauline Grosjean, Sergei Guriev, Michael Koetter, Mrdjan Mladjan, Pierre Mohnen, Steven Ongena, Andrea Presbitero, Mara Sebastia-Barriel, Burak Uras, Neeltje
    [Show full text]
  • Reforming the Soviet Union: Lessons from Structural Experience
    November 1991 Reforming the Soviet Union: Lessons from Structural Experience Stanislav V. Zhukov and Alexander Yu. Vorobyov* * The authors are at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), Soviet Academy of Sciences. This paper was begun while they were visiting at the Departments of Economics and Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with support from the World Institute for Development Economics Research, and completed at IMEMO. The original text was edited by Lance Taylor, whose comments and suggestions are gratefully acknowledged. Address for correspondence: 23, Profsoyuznaya Str. GSP-7 Moscow 117859 USSR Phone: 128-16-59 Fax: 3107027 Telex: 411687 IMEMO SU Reforming the Soviet Union: Lessons from Structural Experience Stanislav V. Zhukov and Alexander Yu. Vorobyov The institutions of every society condition and mediate social action. Evidently, the economic system is subject to this generalization. Social institutions -- including internalized values and attitudes -- represent structural constraints on the development of the economy as well as its reactions to shocks and policy maneuvers. The behavior of economic agents is neither socially neutral nor completely self-sufficient, but rather is institutionally and culturally "designed." Depending on the institutional skeleton, different economic systems acquire distinct features which strongly influence their evolution. The implication is that some economic disease -- say inflation -- which seems to have similar symptoms in diverse social environments can nevertheless have quite different causes and require different methods of treatment. Reliance upon standard universal remedies to cope with economic problems in disparate societies often produces disappointing results. These observations are particularly relevant to the Soviet Union, where a previously well-structured economic regime is now subject to clear and accelerating centrifugal tendencies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Economics of Forced Labor: the Soviet Gulag: List of Acronyms
    Hoover Press : Gregory/Gulag DP0 HGRESGACRO rev1 page 199 List of Acronyms AOPDFRK Archive of Socio-Political Movements and Formations of the Republic of Karelia BAM Baikal-Amur Mainline BAMLag Baikal-Amur Camp BBK White Sea–Baltic Combine BBLag White Sea–Baltic Camp CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union Dalstroi Far North Construction Trust GAMO State Archive of the Magadan Region GARF State Archive of Russian Federation Glavk (pl. glavki) Main Economic Administration Glavpromstroi Main Administration of Industrial Construction Gosbank State Bank Gosplan State Planning Commission GUGidroStroi Main Administration of Hydraulic Construction Gulag Main Administration of Camps GULGMP Main Administration of Camps in Mining and Metallurgy Industry Hoover Press : Gregory/Gulag DP0 HGRESGACRO rev1 page 200 200 List of Acronyms GULLP Administration of Camps in Forestry and Wood Processing GULPS Main Administration of Camps for Industrial Construction GULSchosDor Main Administration of Camps for Highway Construction GULZhDS Chief Camp Administration of Railway Construction GUShDS Main Administration of Railroad Construction GUShosDor Main Administration of Roadway Construction ITL Corrective Labor Camp KVO Cultural-Educative Department MGB Ministry of State Security MVD Ministry of Internal Affairs Narkomtrud People’s Commissariat (Ministry) of Labor Narkomvnudel See NKVD NEP New Economic Policy NKVD People’s Commissariat (Ministry) of Internal Affairs Norillag Norilsk Labor Camp Norilstroi Norilsk Construction Administration Politburo Supreme
    [Show full text]
  • Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism
    DAVID LANE Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism David Lane Abstract While theories of global capitalism have added a new dimen- sion to our understanding of the dynamics of the modern world,1 a “globalization” approach to the transformation of the state social- ist societies is relatively underdeveloped. Globalization is used in the sense of internationalization: economies become integrated and interdependent on an international scale. Globalization leads to the erosion of the autonomy of countries and national econo- mies. The institutions of a global economy are unrestricted mar- kets, networks, international transnational corporations and eco- nomic-political institutions. In this paper, first, I outline the foot- print of state socialism and criticise the ways in which writers have attempted to locate the state socialist societies as a part of the international capitalist economic system. Second, I consider comparatively the economic integration of the post-communist countries into the world system in the post-1989 period of the building of capitalism. Third, I establish that the post-communist countries have entered the world economy but are in a peripheral position. It is concluded that though there are important differ- ences between the post-socialist states with respect to economic penetration, exposure to the world market has led to a decline in their relative economic and welfare positions, though some coun- tries have fared worse than others. 1 Wallerstein, 1974, 1980, 1988. For an overview of literature see: Sklair, 2002. - 27 - DAVID LANE 1. State Socialism and the World System State socialist societies were formed in opposition to the po- litical and economic systems of the capitalist world.
    [Show full text]
  • A Hypothesis on Banking and Democracy: Explaining Change in Ukraine’S Political Regime
    A HYPOTHESIS ON BANKING AND DEMOCRACY: EXPLAINING CHANGE IN UKRAINE’S POLITICAL REGIME by Erik Fertsman Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia December 2020 © Copyright by Erik Fertsman, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………………. iv LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………….... v ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….... vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USD …………………………………………………………..... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………….... 1 1.1 OVERVIEW …………………………………………………………………………….... 1 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK……………………………………………………….. 7 1.2.1 Theories on Post-Soviet Political Regimes …………………………………………. 7 1.2.2 Banks as a Resource for Political Groups in Ukraine ……………………………... 11 1.3 METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………………….... 13 1.3.1 Hypothesis generation …………………………………………………………….. 13 1.3.2 General-to-specific (“GETS”) Approach …………………………………………. 13 1.3.3 Data ……………………………………………………………………………….. 14 1.3.4 Terms………………………………………………………………………………. 15 1.4 LIMITATIONS………………………………………………………………………….. 16 1.5 OUTLINE ………………………………………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER 2. THEORIES ON POST-SOVIET POLITICAL REGIMES ……………………... 20 2.1 MASS ATTITUDES, CULTURE, HISTORY, AND SOCIAL CLEAVAGES …………. 20 2.2 INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN……………………………………………………………. 22 2.3 TRANSNATIONAL DIFFUSION ……………………………………………………... 27 2.4 ELITES (BALANCE THEORY) ………………………………………………………. 29 2.5 SUMMARY …………………………………………………………………………….. 36
    [Show full text]
  • Levers of Law Reform: Public Goods and Russian Banking Patricia A
    Cornell International Law Journal Volume 30 Article 2 Issue 1 1997 Levers of Law Reform: Public Goods and Russian Banking Patricia A. McCoy Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cilj Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation McCoy, Patricia A. (1997) "Levers of Law Reform: Public Goods and Russian Banking," Cornell International Law Journal: Vol. 30: Iss. 1, Article 2. Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cilj/vol30/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell International Law Journal by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Levers of Law Reform: Public Goods and Russian Banking Patricia A. McCoy* Today, a half-decade after the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia wobbles precariously between economic transformation and civil strife. After five painful years of market reforms, inflation is down, unemployment is falling, and real incomes are rising. But for many, that progress is too little, too late. Citizen resentment is smoldering, catapulting the communists into the forefront of the summer 1996 presidential elections and fueling fears of a coup, dissolution of the parliament, martial law or civil war. To its vast credit, Russia avoided those catastrophes and successfully navigated the elections, but its political stability remains fragile. This anxious state of affairs thus raises the question whether commercial law reforms designed to enforce market discipline in Russia were too late.1 There has been general agreement, both among adherents of the "big bang" theory of reform and those who preferred to see economic * Assistant Professor of Law, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University.
    [Show full text]
  • Russian Banking
    FRBSF WEEKLY LETTER Number 95-35, Odober 20, 1995 Russian Banking On the last day of 1991 the Soviet Union van­ (notably Sberbank) the government retained ished, and the various countries of the former some degree of control. What remained of the USSR accelerated their ongoing political and old Gosbank within Russia became the new economic transformation. One result is that Central Bank of the Russian Federation (or CBR). the title of this Weekly Letter is no longer an oxymoron. Indeed, the Russian banking system Industry structure stands out among sectors of the Russian econ­ Establishment of new banks has been rapid; there omy for its high degree of privatization, its are now more than 2500 commercial banks in market orientation, and its rapid adoption of Russia. Sberbank is in a category by itself; its Western technology and management methods. branch network is immense (roughly 30,000 of­ fices, compared to about 5500 for the rest of But partly because of its rapid development, the the banking system), and it is by far the largest Russian banking sector is fragile. This point was holder of personal deposits. The rest of the Rus­ emphasized during August 1995 when the Rus­ sian commercial banking industry divides into sian interbank credit and payments system froze, three segments. One segment arose early in the precipitating calls for central bank intervention transition process: Large industrial enterprises, and government action. This Letter describes the needing a mechanism to make and receive pay­ emergence of a private banking system in Russia, ments and needing access to credit, established provides insight into banking's current state, and their own banks.
    [Show full text]
  • Soviet Foreign Trade and the Money Supply
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Nakamura, Yasushi Working Paper Soviet foreign trade and the money supply BOFIT Discussion Papers, No. 30/2013 Provided in Cooperation with: Bank of Finland, Helsinki Suggested Citation: Nakamura, Yasushi (2013) : Soviet foreign trade and the money supply, BOFIT Discussion Papers, No. 30/2013, ISBN 978-952-6699-57-8, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT), Helsinki, http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:NBN:fi:bof-201408072191 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/212785 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
    [Show full text]