Socialist Economic Systems

Socialist Economic Systems PDF

Author: Steven Rosefielde

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781032443188

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"Bernie Sanders' socialist advocacy in the United States, communist China's economic successes and a Marxist revival are inspiring many to muse about improved strategies for building superior socialist futures. Socialist Economic Systems provides an objective record of socialism's promises and performance 1820-2022, identifies a feasible path forward and provides a rigorous analytic framework for the comparison of economic systems. The book opens by surveying pre-industrial utopias from Plato to Thomas More, and libertarian communal designs for superior living. It plumbs all aspects of the revolutionary and democratic socialist political movements that emerged after 1870 and considers the comparative economic, political and social performance of the USSR and others from the Bolshevik Revolution onwards. The book also provides case studies for all revolutionary Marxist-Leninist regimes, and supplementary discussions of Mondragon cooperatives, Israeli kibbutzim, Nordic corporatism, and European democratic socialism. It investigates the theoretical and practical complexities of command-planning, reform communism, market communism, worker economic management and egalitarianism. It examines communism as an engine of economic growth, and a mechanism for improving people's quality of existence, including living standards, labor self-governance, egalitarianism, social justice, and prevention of crimes against humanity before addressing the perennial question of what needs to be done next. A suggested path forward is elaborated drawing lessons from the warts-and-all historical performance of socialist economies 1917-2022 and failed socialist prophesy. The evidence indicates that the key to 21st century socialism success lies in empowering workers of all descriptions to govern democratically for their mutual protection and welfare without the extraneous imposition of priorities imposed by other movements. The book is essential reading for anyone interested in Socialism, political economy, comparative economic systems and political and social history"--

The Socialist System

The Socialist System PDF

Author: János Kornai

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-04-13

Total Pages: 675

ISBN-13: 0691228027

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To understand the dramatic collapse of the socialist order and the current turmoil in the formerly communist world, this comprehensive work examines the most important common properties of all socialist societies. JNBnos Kornai brings a life-long study of the problems of the socialist system to his explanation of why inherent attributes of socialism inevitably produced in-efficiency. In his past work he has focused on the economic sphere, maintaining consistently that the weak economic performance of socialist countries resulted from the system itself, not from the personalities of top leaders or mistakes made by leading organizations and planners. This book synthesizes themes from his earlier investigations, while broadening the discussion to include the role of the political power structure and of communist ideology. Kornai distinguishes between two types, or historical phases, of socialism. The "classical socialism" of Stalin, Mao, and their followers is totalitarian and brutally repressive, but its components fit together and make up a coherent edifice. Associated with names like Tito, KNBdar, Deng-Xiaoping, and Gorbachev, "reform socialism" relaxes repression, but brings about a sharpening of inner contradictions and the eventual dissolution of the system. Kornai examines the classical system in the first half of the book, and moves on to explore the complex process of reform in the second half. The Socialist System is addressed to economists in the first place, but also to political scientists, sociologists, and historians. In addition, it will appeal to policymakers, business analysts, and government officials who need to understand either formerly or presently communist countries.

A Guide to the Socialist Economies

A Guide to the Socialist Economies PDF

Author: Ian Jeffries

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-03-07

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1000570932

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First published in 1990, A Guide to the Socialist Economies explores the evolution of a variety of economic systems in the socialist world and highlights major problems facing fourteen countries – Albania, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Hungary, North Korea, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and Yugoslavia –against a background of continuous change, characterized by such events as the Berlin blockade, the Korean war, the Hungarian revolution and the invasion of Czechoslovakia. The traditional Soviet economic model is studied in detail as the basic system adopted by or imposed upon all of these countries. A separate chapter is devoted to foreign trade in general and Comecon in particular, while each of the country studies deals with the political and economic background, economic reforms (including industry, agriculture, the financial system and foreign trade and capital) and the private sector. The book provides information on the economic institutions of all the individual countries which is invaluable if the various courses of reform each country has engaged upon are to be understood. Historical material supplements contemporary information in a work which is to be an essential reference for anyone engaged in a study of, or trade with, the socialist countries.

The Socialist Market Economy in Asia

The Socialist Market Economy in Asia PDF

Author: Arve Hansen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-10-26

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9811562482

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This book is intended for policy-makers, academics and students of development studies, area studies, political economy, geography and political science. Three of the best global performers in terms of economic growth are authoritarian states led by communist parties. The ‘socialist market economy’ model employed in China, Vietnam and Laos performs better than the economic systems in countries at a similar level of income per capita on a wide range of development indicators, yet market reforms and governance failures have led to highly unequal societies and significant environmental problems. This book presents the first comparative study of development in these three countries. Written by country experts and scholars of development studies, it explores the ongoing quest for market versus state within their model, and the coherence of their development. Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The Socialist System

The Socialist System PDF

Author: Janos Kornai

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 1992-05-28

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13: 0191521604

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This book provides a comprehensive account of the structure, conduct, and performance of the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, the USSR, Communist China and the Marxist LDCs, looking at 26 nations in all. The author focuses on reform, perhaps the most important issue facing countries such as the USSR, Poland, Hungary, and China. Bureaucracy, soft budget constraints, markets, and the nature of the socialist state are the central issues that arise in the course of reforming a socialist economy. The first half of the book deals with 'classical socialism' and provides a theoretical summary of the main features of a now closed period of history. The second half deals with the processes of reform and concludes that the reform of classical socialist systems is doomed to failure as they are unable to renew themselves internally.

Consistency and Viability of Socialist Economic Systems

Consistency and Viability of Socialist Economic Systems PDF

Author: J. Marangos

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2013-07-03

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1137327251

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Economic systems and the reforms processes examined in Consistency and Viability of Socialist Economics Systems are the centrally administered socialist economics system of the Soviet Union, the Liberman-Kosygin reforms, the Gorbachev reforms and market socialism of Yugoslavia.

Comparative Socialist Systems

Comparative Socialist Systems PDF

Author: Carmelo Mesa-Lago

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published: 2010-11-23

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 0822975254

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"The editors have merged work from two disciplines, economics and political science; in a summary conclusion, a sociologist suggests possible extensions in the comparison of socialist systems for the future. . . . contributes generously to the field."—Slavic Review