An intense debate has played out in recent years regarding how to implement a so-called "flexicurity system"-a labor market reform that combines flexibility, particularly in the hiring and firing ...process of firms, with security in the employment and income of the workforce. In Flexicurity Capitalism, Flaschel and Greiner lay out the macroeconomic structure of this system, providing the detailed mathematical models necessary to ponder seriously how such a system can work. Their book rests on three pillars of thought: Marx, Kalecki-Keynes, and Schumpeter. The authors highlight the relevant contributions from the work of each and build upon it. They in turn provide a basic framework for flexicurity capitalism and then compare their economic system to pure capitalism to determine the best and most practical way forward. Their scope is ambitious: to address the shortcomings of a narrow focus on mass unemployment, selective-schooling systems, property rights based solely on ownership without qualified business decision-making expertise, financial markets that do not of channel savings properly into real investment, and innovations that ignore human rights or moral sentiments. Flaschel and Greiner's Flexicurity Capitalism provides serious discussion and feasible mathematical models necessary to consider moving in this direction. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/9780199751587/toc.html
Članek predstavlja knjigo Milana Vidmarja, dolgoletnega profesorja elektrotehnike na ljubljanski univerzi in največjega slovenskega šahista, v kateri je avtor orisal svoje vtis z dveh potovanj v ...Združene države Amerike. V ZDA je prvič potoval leta 1927, drugič pa leta 1936. Prvič je bil torej v ZDA v času gospodarskega razcveta, drugič pa po veliki gospodarski krizi, ki je po njegovem prepričanju razkrila vso krhkost kapitalističnega reda in liberalne gospodarske politike. Vidmar je, kot je pisal v ZDA, že po prvem potovanju, pogrešal »dušo«, ki naj bi jo evropska mesta imela, ameriška pa ne. ZDA naj bi v tej luči posebej zaznamovali skromna zgodovina, izposojeni angleški jezik in prebivalstvo, ki naj bi ne bilo »narod«, temveč skup »narodnih manjšin«. Hkrati naj bi Združene države ne imele svoje avtentične kulture, kar naj bi bil rezultat dejstva, da je bilo ameriško prebivalstvo v veliki večini sestavljeno iz priseljencev. Edini pravi domačini v ZDA so bili po Vidmarju ameriški črnci. Američani v Vidmarjevih očeh niso bili narod, temveč človeška vojska, ki se dobesedno bori za preživetje. Ameriško pojmovanje »svobode« in »demokracije«, ki naj bi bili le navidezni, saj so ameriški volilci lahko o »usodi domovine« odločali le vsako četrto leto na volitvah z »da« ali »ne!, mu je bilo, čeprav je bil po nazoru liberalec, tuje. Hkrati je odločno odklanjal ameriški kapitalizem in liberalni individualizem, ki naj bi nedvoumno razkrivala, da so bile ZDA »bojišče«. »Gospodarsko svobodo« je primerjal z vesoljem, ki naj bi bilo prav tako sestavljeno iz »drobcev«, ki se »ne menijo drug za drugega«. Človeško gospodarstvo pa – kot je pokazala kriza leta 1929 – ne sme biti prepuščeno »naključju in katotičnemu plesu drobcev«, saj potrebuje red in načrtovanje. Vidmar se je zato zavzel za gospodarsko politiko utemeljeno v znanosti in razumu, hkrati pa tudi za aktivno socialno politiko države. V ZDA sta ga odbijala »obsedenost z denarjem (dolarjem)« in potrošništvom, pa tudi »nespametno izkoriščanje narave«. S simpatijami pa je pozdravljal reformna prizadevanja predsednika ZDA Franklina Delana Roosevelta, ki je bil zanj »zastopnik skupne koristi vseh državljanov. Avtor članka ugotavlja, da je treba Vidmarjevo knjigo presojati v kontekstu razmer v tridesetih letih 20. stoletja, ko se je po veliki gospodarski krizi povsod zdelo, da je liberalna gospodarska politika doživela popoln polom. Hkrati meni, da je bil Vidmar s sklicevanjem na »narod«, »zgodovino«, »jezik«, »kulturo«, »zemljo« in »tradicijo« značilen predstavnik slovenskega liberalnega izobraženstva, zadržana in kritična slovenska gledanja na ZDA pa imajo – kot kaže njegova knjiga - daljšo zgodovino, kot običajno mislimo.
Dobiček in prostor Bentley, Ian
Urbani izziv,
01/1997, Letnik:
30-31, Številka:
30-31
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
V razpravi so predstavljeni fizični in simbolni vplivi grajenega okolja na človekove dejavnosti v kapitalističnih razmerah. Grajeno okolje je integrirano v kapitalistično gospodarstvo na treh ravneh: ...kot jedro dobičkonosne predelovalne industrije (gradbeništva), kot prizorišče delovanja drugih dejavnosti in kot zagotovilo delovanja sistema v celoti. Grajeno okolje je v razpravi opredeljeno kot izdelek. V nadaljevanju so prikazane napetosti, ki izvirajo iz kapitalističnega sistema, in ki še posebej pomembno vplivajo na oblikovanje grajenega prostora. Prva napetost izvira iz dejstva, da sistemu, ki je prepuščen sam sebi, manjka celostna funkcija planiranja, druga iz sposobnosti sistema porajati dohodek, tretja pa iz dejstva, da ima delo značaj, ki je drugačen od značaja ostalega blaga uporabljenega v proizvodnem procesu. Razpravo zaključujejo razmišljanja o načinih oblikovanja grajenega prostora, tako da se ohranja družbeni red.
The old discussion about ‘Market or State’ is obsolete. There will always have to be a mix of market and state. The only relevant question is what that mix should look like. How far do we have to let ...the market go its own way in order to create as much welfare possible for everyone? What is the responsibility of the government in creating welfare? These are difficult questions. But they are also the only interesting questions. That is why they are analysed in this book. The desired mix of market and state is anything but easy to bring about. It is a difficult and sometimes destructive process that is constantly in motion. There are periods in history in which the market gains in importance. During other periods the opposite occurs and the government is everywhere more dominant. The turning points in this pendulum swing typically seem to coincide with disruptive events that test the limits of market and state. Why we experience this dynamic is an important theme in this book. Will the market, which today is allocated a greater and greater role thanks to globalization, run up against its limits? Or do the financial crisis and growing income inequality show that we have already reached those limits? Do we have to brace ourselves for a rejection of the capitalist system? Are we returning to an economy in which the government is running the show? These are important questions this book seeks to answer.
Globalization, surely one of the most used and abused buzzwords of recent decades, describes a phenomenon that is typically considered to be a neutral and inevitable expansion of market forces across ...the planet. Nearly all economists, politicians, business leaders, and mainstream journalists view globalization as the natural result of economic development, and a beneficial one at that. But, as noted economist Martin Hart-Landsberg argues, this perception does not match the reality of globalization. The rise of transnational corporations and their global production chains was the result of intentional and political acts, decisions made at the highest levels of power. Their aim - to increase profits by seeking the cheapest sources of labor and raw materials - was facilitated through policy-making at the national and international levels, and was largely successful. But workers in every nation have paid the costs, in the form of increased inequality and poverty, the destruction of social welfare provisions and labor unions, and an erratic global economy prone to bubbles, busts, and crises. This book examines the historical record of globalization and restores agency to the capitalists, policy-makers, and politicians who worked to craft a regime of world-wide exploitation. It demolishes their neoliberal ideology - already on shaky ground after the 2008 financial crisis - and picks apart the record of trade agreements like NAFTA and institutions like the WTO. But, crucially, Hart- Landsberg also discusses alternatives to capitalist globalization, looking to examples such as South America's Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) for clues on how to build an international economy based on solidarity, social development, and shared prosperity.
PDF
