Economic Initiative and the Organization of Centralized Planning

The problem of combining centralized planning with economic initiative, with a creative approach by the working masses to the organization of planning and the fulfillment of plans, is a central part of the many-sided effort to improve the economic mechanism. The July 12, 1979, decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers envisaged a number of measures to strengthen both principles of democratic centralism. Among them an important place is occupied by the question of increasing the scientific substantiation of plans; the question of making plan targets correspond more fully to social needs; the transformation of the five-year plan into the basic form of planning; the introduction of a new system of plan indicators and cost-accounting incentives in addition to targets based on stable economic norms; the broad dissemination of the practice of counterplanning, etc.

Democratic Socialism: Economic Essence and Prospects

The formula of democratic socialism has become part of our everyday vocabulary. But we are not yet aware of its ideological content and logic, which are well known in the West, nor have we coordinated them with the new conception of socialism that is talcing shape. The present article attempts to compare the Soviet experience of socialist construction, based on the implementation of the formula of the dictatorship of the proletariat, with its new conception, based on the implementation of the formula of democratic socialism in the course of the restructuring of Soviet society.

Insider Control and Investment Behaviour of Russian Corporations

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The Way Out of the Crisis

When the mountain in the well-known legend does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed goes to the mountain. Presently we are in approximately the same situation. The market is not coming to us, but the crisis is not going away. Hence we ourselves must act. But we are gripped by the idea that the market will come spontaneouslyâan idea that qualifies the actions required to overcome the crisis as nothing more than administrative actions with a minus sign, even though actions taken by radicals that have had destructive consequences are for some reason noted with a plus sign.

The Post Keynesian alternative for the Russian economy

This paper is focused on Post Keynesian economics as an alternative perspective on the modern Russian economy. Neoclassical foundations of the radical market reforms in the former USSR are analyzed, and their perilous effects on economy and population are demonstrated. Post Keynesianism is treated as a viable and coherent alternative to neoclassical orthodoxy. The contribution to this body of thought of Keynes, Kalecki, Robinson, Sraffa, and some others is recognized. The historical, cultural, and socioeconomic conditions specific to Russia are considered as insurmountable obstacles for any neoclassical reforms agenda. The paper discusses ten Post Keynesian models that fit to Russian conditions, particularly when they are synthesized with some insights of economists from this country. Taken as a whole, Russian experience in building capitalism is viewed as a unique experiment testing the validity of neoclassical economics with disastrous results that vindicate the Post Keynesian alternative.market reforms in Russia, neoclassical economics, Post Keynesianism, transition economies,