Venezuelan Economic Laboratory. The Case of the Altruistic Economy of Felipe Pérez Martí

Felipe Pérez Martí, who was the Venezuelan Minister of Planning and Development in the government of Hugo Chávez, proposes an economic model that he calls the altruistic economy or fourth way, which leads cooperative game theory to its logical extremes postulating a pure communism. Here we sustain that, first, it is impossible in the model of Pérez Martí to marginally allocate non-primary goods to those most in need or who most value them, facing a problem of defective economic calculation, and second, in order to achieve equality, he would have to replace his atomic local planners by a central planner, who would be unable to overcome the problem of imperfect and and incomplete information.altruism, Nash equilibrium, game theory, planning, communism, equality

El socialismo del siglo XXI, ¿una alternativa factible?

The purpose of this work is to contribute to a critical analysis of what has been called 21st century socialism. Socialist regimes of the 20th century distorted the theoretical Marxian economic model partly because of the impossibility of socialist economic calculation. Allin Cottrell and Paul Cockshott argue that in the 21st century Socialism, supported by several political parties, social movements and some Latin-American governments, the impossibility of economic calculation can be overcome by the use of computers and Internet. In this paper we offer criticism of economic and political aspects of Cottrell and Cockshott’s theoretical design. Our discussion of the economic aspects is inspired by market socialism, while our discussion of political aspects draws on debates surrounding political or egalitarian liberalism.socialism, market, planning, Marxism

Socialismo de Mercado ¿Preferencias del gobierno o preferencias individuales?

Los interesantes aportes del Prof. Ramírez Gómez tratan sobre el papel que el mercado debe jugar en una sociedad democrática, y con este propósito sugiere que éste debería responder a las preferencias del gobierno y no a las preferencias individuales. Nuestra réplica amistosa plantea que este argumento debe ser ampliado para evitar interpretaciones que lo confundan con las fórmulas experimentadas por las economías de planificación total, que han mostrado su ineficiencia en la provisión de valores de uso pertinentes. En este sentido, sostenemos que el mercado debe estar subordinado a las preferencias individuales facilitando la libertad de las personas en la elección de alternativas de inversión y consumo, hasta el punto en que tal ejercicio sólo pueda hacerse sobre el menoscabo de un razonable ejercicio de libertad por parte de las demás.Les intéressantes contributions du Prof. Ramirez Gomez traitent du rôle que le marché doit jouer dans une société démocratique, et dans cette optique, il suggère que celui-ci devrait répondre aux préférences du gouvernement et non aux préférences individuelles. Notre réplique amicale affirme que cet argumentaire doit s’ouvrir davantage afin d’éviter des interprétations qui le confondent avec les formules expérimentées par les économies de planification totale, qui ont démontrées leur inefficacité dans l’approvisionnement en valeurs d’usage pertinentes. Dans ce sens, nous soutenons que le marché doit être subordonné aux préférences individuelles facilitant la liberté des personnes dans le choix d’alternatives d’investissement et de consommation, jusqu’à ce que cet exercice ne puisse se faire que de par la diminution d’un exercice raisonnable de liberté de la part des autres.The interesting contribution of Prof. Ramirez-Gomez deals with the role that the market must have in a democratic society, and with this intention, suggests that market should respond to government’s preferences rather than individual preferences. Our friendly reply states that this argument must be extended in order to avoid interpretations that will mistake it with formulas experienced by the central planification economies, which have shown their inefficiency in the provision of pertinent use-values. In this sense, we maintain that the market must be subordinated to the individual preferences facilitating the freedom of the people in choosing  investment alternatives and consumption, until the point in which such exercise can only  be held through the reduction of a reasonable exercise of freedom of the others

Socialismo de Mercado ¿Preferencias del gobierno o preferencias individuales?

Los interesantes aportes del Prof. Ramírez Gómez tratan sobre el papel que el mercado debe jugar en una sociedad democrática, y con este propósito sugiere que éste debería responder a las preferencias del gobierno y no a las preferencias individuales. Nuestra réplica amistosa plantea que este argumento debe ser ampliado para evitar interpretaciones que lo confundan con las fórmulas experimentadas por las economías de planificación total, que han mostrado su ineficiencia en la provisión de valores de uso pertinentes. En este sentido, sostenemos que el mercado debe estar subordinado a las preferencias individuales facilitando la libertad de las personas en la elección de alternativas de inversión y consumo, hasta el punto en que tal ejercicio sólo pueda hacerse sobre el menoscabo de un razonable ejercicio de libertad por parte de las demás.Les intéressantes contributions du Prof. Ramirez Gomez traitent du rôle que le marché doit jouer dans une société démocratique, et dans cette optique, il suggère que celui-ci devrait répondre aux préférences du gouvernement et non aux préférences individuelles. Notre réplique amicale affirme que cet argumentaire doit s’ouvrir davantage afin d’éviter des interprétations qui le confondent avec les formules expérimentées par les économies de planification totale, qui ont démontrées leur inefficacité dans l’approvisionnement en valeurs d’usage pertinentes. Dans ce sens, nous soutenons que le marché doit être subordonné aux préférences individuelles facilitant la liberté des personnes dans le choix d’alternatives d’investissement et de consommation, jusqu’à ce que cet exercice ne puisse se faire que de par la diminution d’un exercice raisonnable de liberté de la part des autres.The interesting contribution of Prof. Ramirez-Gomez deals with the role that the market must have in a democratic society, and with this intention, suggests that market should respond to government’s preferences rather than individual preferences. Our friendly reply states that this argument must be extended in order to avoid interpretations that will mistake it with formulas experienced by the central planification economies, which have shown their inefficiency in the provision of pertinent use-values. In this sense, we maintain that the market must be subordinated to the individual preferences facilitating the freedom of the people in choosing  investment alternatives and consumption, until the point in which such exercise can only  be held through the reduction of a reasonable exercise of freedom of the others

Bean-counting research and the mismanagement of knowledge production in business schools *

Notorious cases of corporate misconduct often revolve around the misapplication of pay to performance. Yet many business schools have too easily given themselves up to these kinds of high-powered incentives in the management of research. This practice is contrary to the very management knowledge taught in business school classrooms and it can wreak havoc with business schools’ mission of knowledge production. The reduction of managing research to a bean-counting performance evaluation, that is, keeping count of discrete units of research outputs as A-class journal hits and citation counts, has arguably tilted the scales in favor of form and against content. This undermines both the quality of knowledge produced and the autonomy that academics need to create knowledge. Much as combat sports, football or soccer, and democratic societies prevent certain traits and actions from conferring an unfair advantage, academics need to reclaim the principle of a level playing field to prevent practices inimical to the academic enterprise

El socialismo del siglo XXI, ¿una alternativa factible?

Este escrito hace un análisis crítico de una de las fuentes del socialismo del siglo XXI. Los regímenes socialistas del siglo XX distorsionaron el modelo teórico marxista, en parte debido a la imposibilidad del cálculo económico en el sistema socialista centralizado. Allin Cottrell y Paul Cockshott sostienen que esta imposibilidad se puede superar con el uso de computadores y la tecnología de Internet. El artículo critica algunos aspectos económicos y políticos de su propuesta. La crítica de los aspectos económicos se inspira en el socialismo de mercado, mientras que la de los aspectos políticos se desarrolla a partir de los debates sobre el liberalismo político o igualitario

Venezuelan economic laboratory. The Case of the altruistic economy of Felipe Pérez Martí

Felipe Pérez Martí, who was the Venezuelan Minister of Planning and Development in the government of Hugo Chávez, proposes an economic model that he calls the altruistic economy or fourth way, which leads cooperative game theory to its logical extremes postulating a pure communism. Here we sustain that, first, it is impossible in the model of Pérez Martí to marginally allocate non-primary goods to those most in need or who most value them, facing a problem of defective economic calculation, and second, in order to achieve equality, he would have to replace his atomic local planners by a central planner, who would be unable to overcome the problem of imperfect and and incomplete information