The unity of the capitalist economy and state

Geert Reuten's The unity of the capitalist economy and state offers a systematic exposition of the capitalist system. Outlining the economic and state institutions and processes that sustain capitalism, Reuten shows how the capitalist economy and state inevitably constitute a unity. Readership: Scholars and advanced students in political economy, economics, political science, social geography, sociology, and the philosophy of these sciences, and readers interested in a synthetic exposition of the capitalist system

Managing the mixed economy: The necessity of welfare policy

It is argued that welfare policy is a necessary component of the state's actlv1tles in contemporary mixed economies. This tends to be lost sight of in the accounts not only of welfare economics and the 'new political economy', but also that of Marxist state theory. The necessity of welfare policy (and its interconnection with economic policy) emerges from the conflict-ridden interaction between a state based on (endogenously defined) right and the imperatives of the capitalist economy. The mutual interdependence of the state and the economy is analyzed in terms of the contradictory requirements of separation and intervention

The political-economic transformations in central and eastern Europe: A tragic neglect of civil society

The events of 1989-92 and the flood of advice from bourgeois economists is critically examined in the light of the Hegelian-Marxist theory of the mixed economy. The, sometimes catastrophic, failures of transition are laid at the door of the neglect of civil society

A conceituação Marxiana de valor n’O Capital

Este artigo analisa as três etapas conceituais dos determinantes do valor das mercadorias n’O Capital de Marx. O artigo conclui que a segunda etapa dinâmica (desenvolvida em 1866–67) supera a terceira etapa – dos preços de produção (desenvolvida em 1864–65). A primeira etapa (Capital I, Parte Um) é uma importante consideração de médias estáticas, postulando que o valor das mercadorias é determinado pelo tempo médio de trabalho socialmente necessário. A segunda etapa (Capital I, Parte Quatro) é uma análise dinâmica da ‘intensidade do trabalho’ e da ‘força produtiva do trabalho’ principalmente determinada pela tecnologia, cada uma delas implicando, primeiro, que o tempo de trabalho cronometrado é uma medida insuficiente e, segundo, que as taxas de mais-valor divergem entre os setores de produção. Enquanto as taxas inter-setoriais de mais-valor determinadas pela intensidade podem se igualar devido à competição intra-laboral, Marx não postula um mecanismo semelhante de igualdade em relação à força produtiva determinada pela tecnologia. A terceira etapa postula a transformação dos valores em preços de produção (Capital III, Parte Dois – cujo texto se baseia em um manuscrito de 1864–65). A principal descoberta do artigo é que o determinante da ‘força produtiva associada à tecnologia’ foi um resultado inovador da versão final de 1866–67 d’O Capital I (1867) de Marx, tornando redundante sua terceira etapaanterior

The unity of the capitalist economy and state

Geert Reuten's The unity of the capitalist economy and state offers a systematic exposition of the capitalist system. Outlining the economic and state institutions and processes that sustain capitalism, Reuten shows how the capitalist economy and state inevitably constitute a unity. Readership: Scholars and advanced students in political economy, economics, political science, social geography, sociology, and the philosophy of these sciences, and readers interested in a synthetic exposition of the capitalist system

A revision of the neoclassical economics methodology

The practice of neoclassical economics is characterized as an 'axiomatic positivism', which is far removed from the official (Popper-Lakatos) methodology of neoclassicism. Hausman (1992) attempts to provide a full revision of that official methodology, for which he takes recourse to the methodological work of J.S. Mill. Hausman's methodology is problematical because of: (1) an inadequate distinction between a normative and a descriptive methodology; (2) an insufficient consideration of the empirical stages of theory appraisal; (3) a misleading account of the tendential character of economic generalizations, as revealed by his treatment of them as ceteris paribus formulations. Further, an arbitrary part of the theory assessment in Hausman's approach seems to run in praxeological terms, apparently divorced from the methodological appraisal.methodology of neoclassical economics, axiomatic positivism, Hausman's 1992 revision of neoclassical methodology, descriptive and normative methodology, ceteris paribus clauses, tendencies and Mill,

The Contradictory Imperatives of Welfare and Economic Policy in the Mixed Economy

The abstract basis of the polity-economy relation is examined in order to comprehend the current economic limitations upon feasible politics. It is argued that contemporary mixed-economies have a deontological (rights/obligations based) rather than a consequentialist (outcomes-based) legitimation, expressing the conflict between the imperatives of the market-regulated capitalist economy and free will. Yet the state has to be concerned with the right to the particular existence of individuals, neglected by the logic of the economy. The mixed economy is thus shown to he contradictory, and policy to be concerned with the management of the manifestations of contradiction that cannot he overcome without radical social transformation. The contradictions of economic and social policy are shown to manifest the domination of the value form over the effective allocation of resources to the production and distribution of useful objects in the capitalist economy. Oft alluded to but rarely argued for, both the assumption of the separation of polity and economy and the cyclical development of policy over time can then be accounted for. The paper explains the inadequacies of rational choice theories of policy with a narrowly instrumental view of human agency—both the 'new' welfare economics and the 'new political economy'.