Present-Day Non-Marxist Political Economy: A Critical Analysis

581 Pages·1981·18.557 MB·English

by  Mileikovsky et al.

PRESENT-DAY
NON-MARXIST
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
A Critical Analysis
ProgresPsu blisher�
Moscow
Translated from the Russian Ьу Galina Sdobnikova
Designed Ьу Yuri Davydov
Современная немарксистская nолитэкономия:
критический анализ
На аш..сийсmом яаыке
© Издательство «Наука», 1975
English translation of the revised Russian text
@ Progress PuЬlishers 1981
Printed in the U nion о/ Soviet Socialist RepuЬlics
10702-737 0603103000
79 81
с 014(01) - 81 -
Authors:
A. G. Mileikovsky-Introduction
I. M. Osadchaya-Chapters One and Two
V. M. Usoskin-Chapter Three
R. M. Entov-Chapter Four
V. N. Shenayev-Chapter Five
D. V. Smyslov-Chapter Six
K. B. Kozlova-Chapter Seven
V.I. Kuznetsov and A.K. Kudryavtsev-Chapter Eight
A. G. Mileikovsky-Chapter Nine
Yu. B. Kochevrin-Chapter Ten
R. I. Kopelyushnikov-Chapter Eleven
V. I. Zaikina-Chapter Twelve
A. G. Mileikovsky-Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen
CONTENTS
Page
To the Foreign Reader 7
Foreword . . 9
Introduction: THE PRESENT STAGE IN THE
CRISIS OF BOURGEOIS ECONOMICS 13
1. Crisis of Traditional Doctrines . . 19
2. "Reappraisal of Values" . . . . . . . . . 29
3. Renewal of the "Mixed Economy" Theory 38
4. Western Economists' View of the Crisis and
New Attacks on Marxism . . . . . . . . 44
Part One • • . 51
Chapter One. EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC
GROWTH THEORY . . • . • 51
1. Evolution of Economic Growth Theory. De-
velopment Peculiarities of Neoclassical Theory 52
2. Development of the Neoclassical Theory of
Technical Progress . . . . . . . . . • . . 62
3. Scientific and Technical Progress and the Prob-
lem of Distribution in Neoclassical Theory 69
Chapter Two. THE PRESENT STAGE OF THE
"ANTIMARGINALIST REVO­
LUTION" AND KEYNESIAN-
ISM . . . . . . . . . 74
1. Criticism of Neoclassical Dogmas . . . • • 77
2. Theory of Value and Price Formation.
Discussion of Sraffa's Work . . 82
. . . . . •
3. Post-Keynesian Models of Growth and Dis-
tribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . 98
4. Theory of Economic Growth and the Realities 110
Chapter Three. THE "STABILITY" PROBLEM:
MONETARISM VS. KEYNES-
IANISM . . . . . . . 118
. . • .
1. From Keynesian Theory to Monetarism . . 119
&
2. A ology of Capitalism by Chicago School
T eorists . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
. . . •
3. The "Wealth Effect" and the Mechanism of Cap-
.
italist Reproduction . . . . . . 144
. . •
.
4. "Money Economy" Doctrine 156
Chapter Four. THE PROBLEM OF INFLA-
TION 100
1. The Monetarist Concept 170
2. The Keynesian Concept . 186
3. The "Cost-Push" Inflation Concept 198
4. The Phillips Curve 221
5. Economic Theory and Anti-Inflationary
Policy 238
Chapter Five. THE CRISIS OF NEOLIBERAL­
ISM AND THE EVOLUTION OF
THE "SOCIAL MARKET ECON-
OMY" THEORY . . . . . . . 253
1. Neoliberalism, Mouthpiece of Monopoly Cap-
ital Interests . . . . . . . . . . . • . • 253
2. The Neoliberal Model of the Market Economy 260
3. Neo-Keynesianism and the "Enlighte�ed Mar-
ket Economy" Model . . . . . . . . . . . 272
4. Economic Doctrines and Inter-Party Struggles 276
Chapter Six. THE CRISIS OF BOURGEOIS
CONCEPTS OF INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY RELATIONS AND
BALANCE-OF-PAYMENTS REG-
ULATION 283
1. Monetary Crises and the Evolution of Bour-
geois Concepts . . . 284
• . . . . . . . • • •
2. Balance of Payments Equilibrium as a Goal
of Economic Policy . . . . . . . . 292
.
3. The Metallic Concept of World Money . 295
•
4
4. The Neo-Keynesian Approach: II!ternational-
isation of the Monetary Mechamsm . . . 307
•
5. The "Monetarist Counter-Revolution" and
"Floating" Exchange Rates 318
Part Two 333
Chapter Seven. INSTITUTIONALISM 333
1. Methodological Specifics of Institutionalism 335
2. The Contradictions of Capitalism and the
Problem of Social Control over the Economy 351
3. The Institutionalist Concept of Transforming
Capitalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Chapter Eight. ATTEMPTS TO SOCIOLOGISE
BOURGEOIS POLITICAL ECON-
OMY: THE FRENCH SCHOOL 370
1. The Sociological Trend . . . . 371
2. Evolution of Neoclassical Ideas 383
Chapter Nine. STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN
THE ECONOMY OF CAPITAL­
ISM AND THEORIES OF ITS
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION 392
1. Sources and Methodological Premises of the
Theories of Capitalist Society's Transforma-
tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
2. Theories of "Industrial Society" . . . . . 405
.
3. Theory of "Post-Industrial Society" . . . . 431
4. Techno-Economic and Politico-Economic As-
pects of Bourgeois Futurology . . . . . . . 440
Chapter Ten. THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF
MANAGERIAL CAPITALISM 453
1. "Dispersion" of Joint-Stock Property and the
Problem of Control . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
2. Stock Capital and Private Property. Concern­
ing the "Waning" of the Capitalist-the Priv-
ate Entrepreneur . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
3. The Growth of the Large Corporation and
Its Modelling in Managerial Theories . . . . 468
4. The Social Meaning of Managerial Theories 483
5
Chr.ipter Eleven. THE CONCEPT OF "HUMAN
CAPITAL" 492
i. Theoretical Premises . . . . . . . . 492
2. Efficiency of "Investment in Human Capital" 500
3. "Human Capital" Theory and Distribution 509
Chapter Twelve. CONCEPT OF "DEMOCRAT-
ISATION OF CAPITAL" . . . 51.4
1. The "Democratisation of Capital" Concept
and the Programmes of the Leading West
German Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
2. "Democratisation of Capital" and State Policy 520
3. "Democratisation of Capital" and Reality . . 527
Chapter Thirteen. RADICAL POLITICAL ECONO-
MY AND THE "NEW LEFT" 533
1. Theoretical and Ideological Positions of Radi-
cal Political Economy . . . . . . . . . . 535
2. Contradictory Tendencies in the;Political Econ-
omy of the "New Left" . . . . . . . . . . 541
3. The Growing Influence of Marxist-Leninist
Political Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
Chapter Fourteen. THE GENERAL CRISIS OF CAP­
ITALISM AND BOURGEOIS
ECONOMIC DOCTRINES OF
WORLD DEVELOPMENT . . 547
1. The Theory of the General Crisis of Capitalism
·and the Basic Postulates of Bourgeois Politi-
cal Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
2. The Bankruptcy of Imperialist Apologetics 555
3. The Crisis of Bourgeois Political Economy 568
.
TO THE FOREIGN READER
The discriminating reader will note that in
criticising present-day non-Marxist political econ­
omy, we do not take any standard attitude to
bourgeois economists, but draw a distinction between
the conservatives, who have not learned or under­
stood anything and stubbornly believe that the
course of history can be reversed and that the
system which is doomed can be preserved, on the
one hand, and those who have realised that the
ongoing changes are inevitable and seek to adapt
to the new situation in the world, which is deter­
mined by the development of the revolutionary
process and the break-up of the obsolete relations
of production.
In this book we suggest that the crisis of bour­
geois economics is characterised not only by a failure
of its doctrines, which history has invalidated,
but also by a quest for new doctrines.
In our day, when there is no alternative to the
peaceful coexistence of states with different social
systems, a dialogue between economic thinkers of
every trend has never been more necessary, for
it could help to elaborate common principles in
tackling the problems facing the whole of man­
kind, namely, ending the arms race and preserving
the environment. Our day has brought out the
abiding importance of the brilliant foresight of
Marx and Engels, who adopted as the starting
point for their scientific studies the abstract category
of mankind as a whole. On thestrength of Darwin's
7
theory of evolution, they established that at a defi­
nite stage of anthropogenesis mankind comes to be
crucially influenced by social conditions. I ts ascent
from lower to higher forms takes the form of a
transition from the primitive-communal system to
the slave-holding formation, feudalism, capitalism,
and communism.
In the lifetime of Marx and Engels, communism
was no more than a vision. It was Marx who in
his immortal Capital transformed socialism, once
a utopia, into a science and demonstrated in theory
that the advent of the communist formation was
inevitable. That work also contains a constructive
critique of bourgeois political economy and sets
out the scientific theory which expresses the in­
terests of the working class, whose mission is to
bring about the revolutionary overthrow of capital­
ism and to build a classless society.
Marxism is not only a theoretical expression of
the interests of the working class, but also a sum­
ming up of the advances made in the natural and
social sciences in the course of mankind's spiritual
development.
That is why the Great October Socialist Revolu­
tion, led byl Lenin, who brilliantly developed the
theory of Marx and Engels, was the first truly
epoch-making revolution that had a crucial im­
pact on the subsequent development of the whole
of mankind, a fact that even bourgeois ideologists
have had to admit.
Marxism is now the theoretical expression of the
true interests of all the revolutionary forces of
our epoch. It has been steadily winning over the
minds of progressive men and women on every
continent as the most important spiritual component
of the modern civilisation.
That is why we hope this book with its promising
title will find thoughtful readers in foreign countries
who will correctly understand our ideological and
·
humanistic aspirations.