fundamental features of socialist societies
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
1/21
Fundamenta l
Fea tures ofSoc ia listSoc ietiesSO 246, Market Transitions
September 8-13, 2011
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
2/21
Post-Communist Region
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
3/21
Key Features of Socialism
Party state
Single-party regimes, where the Communist Party
has autocratic power State subordinate to the Party
Ideologically, socialist system was seen as a stagein the transition towards communism
The goal of the socialist stage was to catch up andsurpass capitalism by doing away with theinefficiencies and injustices of capitalism
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
4/21
System-specific Attributes
of Socialist Economies
public (collective) property
central planning (bureaucratic coordination)
constitutionally guaranteed right to employment
heavy industrial development (at the expense of
light industry and service sector)
soft-budget constraints
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
5/21
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
6/21
Realities
of Socialist Economies
Challenges of comprehensive planning on the
national scale
For ordinary folk this resulted in:
Sellers markets (shortages)
reduced role of money
privileges closed distribution channels
dependence on work unit and the party
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
7/21
Empty shelves in a Polish state store during late
socialism
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
8/21
Why d idn t soc ia lism work out in
the long run?
Weakened legitimacy of its core institutions
Economic inefficiency
no competition, plan is quantity-based
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
9/21
WANTED (at the textile
factory): CONSUMERS
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
10/21
Why didnt socialism work out in the
long run?
Weakened legitimacy of its core institutions
Economic inefficiency
no competition, plan is quantity-based
draw-backs of state planning
public property
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
11/21
-- I work nearby, at a meat-processing plant
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
12/21
Why d idn t soc ia lism work out in
the long run?
Weakened legitimacy of its core institutions
Economic inefficiency
no competition, plan is quantity-based
draw-backs of state planning
public property
low return on human capital, poor work ethic
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
13/21
Relative Productive Inefficiency of the
Socialist System
Quoted in Kornai
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
14/21
How to survive in a country where
goods are scarce and access isdetermined based on the position in
the formal hierarchy?
horizontal networks of cooperation, trust and reciprocity
that move goods, services and information: guanxiin
China, blatin Russia.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
15/21
Wide-spread favors and bribing
systemic qualities of socialism?
State and public ownership on most of the propertyrendered bribe-taking and theft the options available to alarge number of people
The ubiquitous role of the state as a producer, distributorand administrator resulted in an inflated bureaucracy,which coupled with rigid and often contradictory rulesmade citizens particularly dependent on the bureaucratsbenevolence
Constant shortages and a system of privileges turned goodsand services into a means of exchange in the hands of thesales staff
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
16/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
17/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
Nobody works, but the plan is fulfilled.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
18/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
Nobody works, but the plan is fulfilled.
The plan is fulfilled, but the stores are empty.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
19/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
Nobody works, but the plan is fulfilled.
The plan is fulfilled, but the stores are empty.
The stores are empty, but the fridges are full.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
20/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
Nobody works, but the plan is fulfilled.
The plan is fulfilled, but the stores are empty.
The stores are empty, but the fridges are full.
The fridges are full, but nobody is content.
-
8/2/2019 Fundamental Features of Socialist Societies
21/21
Six paradoxes of socialism
There is no unemployment, but nobody works.
Nobody works, but the plan is fulfilled.
The plan is fulfilled, but the stores are empty.
The stores are empty, but the fridges are full.
The fridges are full, but nobody is content.
Nobody is content, but everyone votesunanimously.