Socialist Economic Policy [antikvár]

PREFACESocialist economic knowledge mainly derives from "Socialist political economics"and from "Theory of planning". Beyond these are branch economics, that is tosay the economics of certain branches of production (industry, agriculture, etc.)as well as of certain economic functions (budget, banking system, price system, etc.).Branch economics operate in both the theory of management and in the fieldof economic policy.Until quite recently economists in socialist countries thought that the theoreticalstudy of socialist economic policy could be disregarded. It was assumed that theknowledge of general economic policy can be practically integrated with thetheory of national economic planning; it was feared that the independent studyof economic policy might eclipse the theory of planning.If the state breaks down the plan of the national economy by institutions, anddirects the economy by means of compulsory plan indices, the question is justified:what need is there for the theory of economic policy besides the theory of plan-ning? In this kind of normative guidance each essential criterion derives from stateplanning. But as a result of economic reforms the system of state economicguidance in socialist societies has undergone considerable changes. This is partic-ularly striking in those socialist societies where state economic guidance turnedinto planned market control. In the case of this particular economy, economicdecisions controlled by the market attain considerable importance while at thesame time the state establishes conditions for the market under which economicdecisions serve the interests of socialist society. Accordingly, in addition to theplanning of the national economy, planned market regulation has become, soto speak, an independent problem of economic-political investigation, a factthat cannot be disregarded by scholarship.This book does not discuss the actual economic conditions of a particular country.It consciously approaches the problem in a more general way. The process ofconverting plan directives into a regulated market mechanism is supported byscientific discussions. In these discussions the experiences gained of the practicein capitalist countries play an important role. These experiences cannot be disre-garded, for two reasons. First, socialist planned economy came about and devel-oped on the pattern of a centrally guided model; socialist economic conditions onlyprovide scanty experiences and are mainly due to the fact that certain socialistcountries made progress in activating commodity and money relations. In thesecond place, in up-to-date capitalism, the role of increased government regula-tion of economic processes, and elements of planned market control crop up.