The Rise and Fall of the European Dream

Author(s): Joseph W.H. Lough / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The European Dream is often portrayed as the benign if not benevolent counterpart to the fading American Dream. Yet, as economic historian Joseph Lough shows in this essay, the European and American dreams are linked by more than their shared embrace of free market capitalism. In this essay Professor Lough exposes the darker side of the European Dream, a side first expressed in the 1990s, but now fully revealed in Europe’s conflict with Greece. As Professor Lough shows, this dark side of the European Dream was already present at its birth in the 19th century, when GWF Hegel allegorized its birth and diffusion through a story about the Self-Moving Substance that is Subject. This story has received mathematically rigorous validation through convergence theories of today’s neoclassical and neoliberal economists. Yet is total domination by this Self-Moving Substance inevitable, much less desirable? Professor Lough shows how Europe could adopt an alternative, more sustainable European Dream to meet today’s pressing challenges.

Grey Zones – Political Economy Through Forms of Life

Author(s): Miško Šuvaković / Language(s): English Issue: 08/2015

The essay ‘Grey Zones: Political Economy through Forms of Life – Eleven Theses on Feuerbach, Friedman, Hayek, and Speculative Realism’ is a poly-generic theoretical discussion of relations betweenthe materialist discourses of Marxist materialism, neoliberal materialism, and speculative realism. The discussion is poly-generic because I used the model of manifesto or a series of theses, such as Marx’s ‘Theses on Feuerbach’. The purpose of the discussion is to point out the antagonisms and conflicts of contemporaneity. In the discussion, I point to theorisations of modern and contemporary human, cultural, and artistic practices that refer to antagonistic and certainly turbulent processings of production and reproduction, political economy, real life, and forms of life in the field of contemporary non-transparent or grey sociality. The field of performing sociality and its performativity is, in broadestterms, the field of politics, which one may trace, with its rises and falls, from Aristotle’s local (zoon politikon) to the utterly contemporary, multiple confrontation of antagonisms and the potentialities of globality. That field is not only that of a voluntary or coercive ordering of the social, but also an affect or expression of human concern as well as wish that appears in all those activities that constitute real life as real, true life. My discussion rests on an analysis and application of a fragmentary statement that Engels once made in a letter written long ago: ‘According to the materialist conception of history, the ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction of real life. […] Hence if somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only determining one, he transforms that proposition into a meaningless, abstract, senseless phrase’.

KRIZA BOSANSKOHERCEGOVAČKE EKONOMSKE NAUKE U VREMENU EKONOMSKE KRIZE

Author(s): Ibreljić Izet / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

Piketty i Marks o losach kapitalizmu

Author(s): Zbigniew Madej / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2016

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate both similarities and differences between Piketty’s and Marx’s assessment of capitalism. The method applied is the comparison of the main theses included in Piketty’s “Capital” and Marx’s “Capital”. It has been determined that both authors perceive the imperative of accumulation and investment as a main treat of capitalism, but draw different conclusions. Marx argues that the aforementioned imperative causes the fall inthe rate of profits, which reinforces the struggle between capital and labor and leads to the outbreak of the revolution, which overturns the capitalism. Conversely, Piketty suggests that Marx came to such apocalyptic conclusions because he did not take into consideration – and neither did other XIX-century economists – the infl uence of technical progress and work efficiency on the national product growth. The first author to include this factor was Solow in the 1950s.It is worth noting, though, that Marx thoroughly described progress and efficiency, as well as differentiated between the technical progress stemming from investments in equipment, and the non-investment progress, stemming from improvement in workers’ skills. Solow and his followers left a rich and multidimensional body of work, however this multidimensionality demands specification, and Piketty does not precisely state which type of technical progress could prove beneficial to capitalism. It is therefore difficult to relate to his suggestions. Capitalism did not fall but it is not known which progress saved it and whether progress was the only, or just one of many saviors of capitalism. In the last part of the article various opinions are presented, however this problem remains un resolved, since no one provides a ready answer

Market Value and Victorian Hybrids Dickens and Marx Against Latour

Author(s): Zachary Tavlin / Language(s): Polish Issue: 13/2014

When Bruno Latour says that “we have never been modern,” he means only to recognize that the ‘actually living’ of modernity (or the temporal duration we’ve often categorized as ‘modernity’) is something altogether different (and far more complicated) than the theoretical apparatus by which academic intellectuals use to describe and categorize it. The modern condition, then, involves a separation between the socio-economic creation of ‘hybrid objects’ and theoretical reflection on society. This reflection takes the form of ‘purification,’ or a clear distinction between nature and culture, science and politics. Drawing upon Charles Dickens’ last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend, as well as Marx, I will argue that already in Victorian England we can find coherent representations of modernity that defy Latour’s high standard of actualized purification (or a visible ‘reality’ that conforms to our purified categorizations). That is, in Dickens and Marx we can find a literary-economic discourse of ‘modernity’ (which may also be Victorian post-humanism) that already recognized the failure of ‘purification’ as the result of expansive capitalism.

Formalna i realna subsumcja pracy pod kapitał. Formy przejściowe.

Author(s): Karol Marks / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2015

Необходимость формирования фонда накопления для предприятий

Author(s): Yulia Bondar,Alexey Arapov / Language(s): Russian Issue: 27/2015

The article considers the problem of formation of the accumulation fund for businesses. Improving the efficiency of production complexes at the present stage of development of the domestic economy largely depends on the process of formation of the company accumulation fund. The value of this fund depends on evidence-based norms of redistribution of sales of surplus value. Determination of the optimal proportions of such distribution represents an important scientific and practical problem. However, today, there is no direct relationship between accumulated depreciation and formation of the respective funds accumulation and compensation. Unfortunately, this problem of domestic economic schools is overlooked and this is what determines the relevance of the research objectives. The necessity of revision at the state level approaches to the formation of the enterprises of various forms of ownership accumulation fund with the aim of boosting economic growth by increasing the rate of expanded reproduction.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALL BUSINESS IN LATVIA

Author(s): Yuri Kochetkov,Elena Sventitskaya / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

In developed countries, particular attention was devoted to small businesses. This was demonstrated by special conferences organized by the White House of the United States on the issues of small businesses in 1980 and 1986, thanks to which the Congress amended the law to facilitate the development of small businesses. Small and micro businesses are one of the leading sectors defining the rate of economic growth, the state of employment, structure and quality of the gross national product and, as a consequence, economic independence and security of the country. According to Eurostat data, about 99 % of the enterprises of the European Union are referred to the category of micro and small businesses, which provide two-thirds of jobs in the private sector. Small and micro companies make up 98–99 % of all enterprises in Latvia. The objectives of the article are to identify and specify the main features of the development of small business in Latvia. The novelty of the article is that the features of the functioning of micro and small enterprises in Latvia’s economy have been investigated for the first time under the conditions of the global financial crisis and its aftermath. The goal of the research is to analyze the functioning of small and micro businesses in Latvia, determine their impact on the main macroeconomic indicators of the national economy and develop recommendations for improving the business conditions of small companies. Methods of research: analysis of statistical data, mathematical modelling, correlation and regression analysis. The comparison of the main statistical indicators of small business functioning in Latvia with that of the EU developed countries indicates that small business is not given due attention in Latvia and this causes it to lag. To accelerate the pace of economic development, eliminate the imbalance in the development of territories, implement innovations and fight against poverty, it is necessary to stimulate the establishment of new small enterprises.

Вплив фактору заощаджень на рівняння економічної рівноваги в макроекономіці

Author(s): Serhiy Horlov / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 26/2014

The subject of the research is to study the impact factor of saving the equations on economic equilibrium in macroeconomics. The aim is to study the impact factor of saving the equation of macroeconomic equilibrium in the economy that allows you on practice calculate indices system of national accounts with considering the savings in the economy in order to rate the economic situation in the country and adoption of the government making appropriate decisions for sustainable development of the economy. At the research we used a mathematical method, by determining and bringing the additional aggregate (savings) in the equation of macroeconomic equilibrium. The result of the scientific research is a new equalization of equilibrium in macroeconomics with taking into account the factor of savings in economy. This equation is used in practice to calculate indicators of national accounts system. An important factor of influence on macroeconomic processes inside a state is savings. They carry out the double function of total expenditures increase through investment and consumer loans, and as a factor accumulation “dead money” in the form of savings in the hands of the population, in the safes of the enterprises with the purpose of making purchases or other transactions in the future, and is not involved in the economy by means on accounts of financial institutions. In the scientific article it is formulated in a new economic equilibrium equation in macroeconomics taking into account the factor of unused savings.

Идеологеми, класови и фракционни борби в средата и края на 20-те години на ХХ век в Съветска Русия – Трагичната съдба на Николай Кондратиев

Author(s): Georgi Naidenov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2016

The introduction of the “socialist revolution, socialism, public property” paradigm and its ideological role for the establishment of the capitalist way of production in ХХ c. is studied. A situational analysis is made of the class and inter-factional struggles in Soviet Russia in the middle and in the second part of the 20s. The study analyses the class struggle between the large centralized state monopolistic capital on the one hand, and the small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises on the other, as well as their factional representation in the political life of that period. It reveals the advantages of the factional struggle of Stalin’s centrist faction and the importance of his ideologeme for the “establishment of socialism in a particular country”. It also shows how class struggle influences the tragic life of the outstanding Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev.

On Two Modernities of the Polish Automotive Industry: The Case of Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych and Its Staff (1948–2011)

Author(s): Mariusz Jastrząb,Joanna Wawrzyniak / Language(s): English Issue: 115/2017

Focusing on the history of the Polish main car factory, the FSO, the paper examines two modernisation waves in the country’s automotive industry: the socialist Government’s purchase of a license from the Italian Fiat in the 1960s and the acquisition of the factory by the Daewoo Corporation in the 1990s. The history of the FSO as an enterprise shows, above all, the pitfalls of dependent development. It has, however, resulted in the training of a class of specialists and engineers for whom the implementation of foreign technologies and management cultures presented opportunities for self-advancement, redefinitions of their identity, along with reconsiderations of the value and meaning of work.

Към въпроса за индустриализацията в България (1944–1989). Дискусионни аспекти

Author(s): Liliana Veleva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2016

The industrialization of Bulgaria, conducted in the period 1944-1989, is at the center of radical reforms to establish a socialist centrally plannedeconomy. Discussed are the main aspects of this process - starting base, model of reconstruction, forced construction of industry and investment policy of the state, efficiency of production, urbanization and more. In certain stages of industrialization high quantitative results have been achieved, while showing a number of distortions. Some of them are considered and discussed as part of the reasons for the failure of socialism in Bulgaria.

THE ECONOMY OF SOCIALIST ROMANIA, ITS POST-DECEMBER 1989 ASSESSMENT AND THE „SECURITATE”

Author(s): Corvin Lupu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

This article and others to be published on the same topic refer to the assessment of the economy of Socialist Romania after December 1989 and the causes that were conducive to the semblance of economic inefficiency of a country that became the only one in to world to be free of debts to anyone, that was supporting an entirely free of charge, universal and lifelong healthcare system for all its citizens, an entirely free of charge and mandatory education system from nursery to doctoral studies, and a system that provided housing for its entire population; a country that supported the financing of a large network of scientific research institutes, in all the fields of activity, a wide investment program adding up to 33% of the national revenues, and that was paying wages to date for 12.5 million employees and 4.5 million pensioners. This article is the beginning of giving an answer to the question: how could the economy that supported such a country-wide project be deemed “bankrupt”?

Od „rada“ do „proizvodnih snaga“. Osvrt na „Nemačku ideologiju“ Karla Marksa

Author(s): Nevena Jevtić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 11/2009

This paper roughly sketches Marx’s notion of labour, following the manner in which it was developed in his famous work Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. Furthermore, the author underlines that the identity of labour and capital, which is fundamental for understanding the social-economic reality, is the key point of Marx’s analyses in question. Later on in German Ideology, as part of his efforts to develop historical analyses of capital as the essentially historical phenomenon in itself, Marx replaced the notion of labour (as realization of the (trans-historic) generic essence of man) with concept of productive forces and relations, thus obtaining the historic principle of history.

Critical Perspectives on the Use of Branding Models in Approaching Places

Author(s): Victor-Alexandru Briciu,A. Briciu / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

This article investigates in depth the characteristics of the interdisciplinary social theory of neo-Marxism, as a moderate response with socio-economic influences on the paradigm of postmodern brand management (defined by the theory of iconic brands and cultural branding - as a model by which brands become icons through creative interaction with their environment, on the one hand, and the anti-capitalist, anti-corporate and anti-branding movement, on the other), both included in a constructivist-interpretivist paradigmatic scheme. This type of critical approach, through reinterpretations and extensions of the ideas of social philosopher Karl Marx, replaces the marketing paradigm as a model of "social engineering" in the words of Douglas B. Holt and proposes new perspectives on the concept of consumer culture in which brands are seen as forms of intangible capital, with the main demands proposed by the anti-branding movement being highlighted, as well as the criticisms brought to “consumer culture”.

Después de Catar 2022: 7 tesis en torno al capitalismo migratorio contemporáneo

Author(s): Philippe Schaffhauser / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 1/2023

A few months after the celebration of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, this article sheds light on some controversial aspects related to this great event, which focus on the relationship between migration, capital and labor. In this sense, its objective is to build an analytical frame of reference to understand the geopolitical background of this world from the perspective of capital as theorized by Karl Marx and enriched by various Marxist traditions. Today, capitalism has become an immeasurable whole. Its empirical representation, through the inventory of its forms, remains the greatest theoretical challenge. It does not exist, but through its multiple effects: poverty, unemployment, pleonexia, ecocide, democratic authoritarianism, among others. Capitalism consists of a contradictory structure of historical relations of antagonistic forces that exercises supreme domination over human and natural life. In this article, it is intended to illuminate, from the work of Marx, one of its contemporary aspects that is migratory capitalism, through seven theses on contemporary migrations.

Moholy-Nagy and the Practical Side of Socialism

Author(s): John Malharek / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2021

For László Moholy-Nagy, socialism was about progress, and industrial design was a way to incorporate technological progress into the everyday lives of ordinary, working people in the interest of achieving “social coherence”, as he put it in his magnum opus, Vision in Motion. If the economic and social structures of capitalism presented obstacles to progress, they were to be opposed; however, if the competitive incentives of businessmen could be channeled in the interest of progress, the capitalistic framework presented not an obstacle but an opportunity. This pragmatic approach to political economy aligned with the applied-arts ethos of Walter Gropius’s Bauhaus, where Moholy-Nagy first established himself as an innovative teacher, but it contrasted with the starker ideological commitment of leftist artists with whom Moholy-Nagy would associate over the years, such as the Hungarian Activists and the circle around the Ma magazine and gallery. The idealistic elation of the immediate years after the Great War soon gave way to the rise of fascism and the geopolitics that would define Moholy-Nagy’s life as an émigré in Berlin, London, and Chicago. This migrant life of making do in frequently changing circumstances and foreign cultures made Moholy-Nagy more amenable to adjusting the shape of his politics according to the constraints and possibilities of wherever he was. This approach allowed him to thrive as a commercial designer in London, and as the leader of the New Bauhaus/School of Design despite the constant threats to that institution’s survival. Moholy-Nagy’s partnership and friendship with Walter Paepcke—an ardent capitalist if there ever was one—is in many ways emblematic of the ways in which Moholy-Nagy creatively found ways to keep to the ideals of social democracy within a world of industrial capitalism.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO THE SOVIET MODEL. THE FIVE-YEAR PLANS

Author(s): Ștefan Torcărescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 34/2023

The efficiency of the implementation of the five-year economic development plans depended on the pre-existing economic, social, cultural and political context in the space where this socialist project took place, with different results. Although they came with significant costs in terms of individual freedom, economic efficiency and innovation. The implementation of the common five-year plans shows that these economic approaches had both positive and negative effects, was not always effective and was accompanied by many challenges, from technological difficulties, inadequate planning, to corruption and bureaucratic rigidity. Political and economic changes in the 1980s contributed to the weakening of the five-year planning model.

The Role of Democratic Law and Theory of Society in the Work of J. A. Schumpeter. To the 140th Anniversary of Birth of Worlds Famous Economist, Lawyer, Historian, Politician, Social Philosopher and Humanist

Author(s): Jiří Bílý / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2024

The article called Marking the 140th anniversary of prof. Dr. J. A. Schumpeter?s birth. The author describes Schumpeter?s scientific works his opinion on Marx?s theories of capitalism, as well as the deep humanism of this extraordinary man, reflected in his attitude towards the people of lower status in general. The article talks about Schumpeter?s theories on the role law in the case with the interplay between law and economy, the interrelationship between law and politics. In the context of democratic society, law appears as one of the most central mechanism to ensure that the participation of the populace in a state?s governance, as well as the outcome of government in the form of legislative decisions, abide by standards of democracy.

Ekonomická transformace východní Evropy a příjmová nerovnost

Author(s): Jiří Večerník / Language(s): Czech Issue: 2/2024

After 1989, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe became of interest to Western experts. Exceptional contributions in this respect include the book Economic Transformation in Eastern Europe and the Distribution of Income, which maps the development of income inequality and poverty based on statistical data for Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and the Soviet Union. It addresses the following questions: 1) Was the distribution of income under communist regimes more equal than in market economies? 2) Did poverty exist under communism? Contrary to expectations, the authors found that social statistics in Central European communist countries were at a high level and, in many aspects, exceeded the standards of Western statistics, specifically Great Britain, which serves as the comparative basis. The enduring value of this book comprises its statistical appendix, which contains detailed data on the distribution of personal earnings and household income for the countries of interest. In addition to the picture as presented by official statistics, the reverse side of the distribution system in centrally planned economies is also highlighted: the advantages of nomenclature, the scarcity of goods in the market, price manipulation and the grey market.