From Marx to the Market

Abstract

The book was completed in the autumn of 1988 and published in hardback almost a year later, but the momentous events of 1989 seem not have overtaken the validity of the argument presented here. The book examines—theoretically and in the light of empirical evidence—the roots of the failure of the Marx‐inspired economic system of socialism, and hence the reasons behind the search of market‐oriented remedies. The twists and bends of this difficult search have led to what in the book is termed ‘market socialism proper’ (MS) as the last station of the ultimately futile reformist road. ‘Real socialism’ has proved non‐reformable, and even MS would hardly match the advantages of the private market economy. This conclusion argued in the book does not justify, however, the laissez‐faire tendency to abandon a number of basic values associated with socialism: major concern for full employment, social care, which in turn imply preservation of a place of substance to state macroeconomic policy, equality of opportunity based on redistribution of income and wealth etc. reflecting the concept of an overall interest of society which cannot just be reduced to a sum of individual self‐interests.

Reflections on the Role of Institutions on the Chinese Road to a Market Economy

“…This insight had been amply demonstrated by the re-centralization tendencies of all socialist reforms, as well as the political features of the developmental dictatorships, uncovered during the 1997-99 east Asian crisis. No socialist reform can surpass this point; otherwise they switch ` from Marx to market` (Brus and Laski, 1989) became inevitable.…”

“…The true size of this problem has been uncovered by the still unfinished process of German re-unification, 12 where despite major injections of official and private capital flows, despite the massive presence of western managerial and administrative skills, despite cultural commonalities, and despite a quick integration into a stable monetary framework, catching up came to a halt by 1997. We do not know of any major endogenous success story in large scale East German industry, banking or services, let alone universities and research centers, over the past fifteen years.…”

The Renewal of Chinese Marxism: Debates over the Character of the Political Economy

“…With an emphasis on first, the development of heavy industry at the expense of light industry and agriculture; second, on speed; and third a reliance on imported machinery, equipment and technical assistance from the Soviet Union, it seemed that China was following a Soviet path for economic development. This was the model of the command economy that had evolved from the particular circumstances of the Soviet Union in the late 1920s to become a general prescriptive pattern for growth (Brus and Laski 1989). 1 Though Nicholas Lardy (1987: 160) asserts that the adoption of this model was surprisingly uncontroversial for the CCP, this was not the case.…”

“…The search for 'real market socialism' suggests an originality to approach (Brus and Laski 1989). Yet within this distinctive strategy for growth there is an aspect of ideological continuity: there is a dialectic of continuity within discontinuity.…”

Progress in Regional Science: A European Perspective

“…Research in these areas, however, suffers from a lack of statistically based regional analysis of growth potentials, as well as a shortage of conceptual reflections on possible strategies for regional economic restructuring. This situation is closely related to a deficit in theory and policy concepts on transformation processes, such as on monetary stabilization and establishment of an institutional and legal basis for a market economy (Brus and Laski 1990). It is clear that especially the regional dimensions of such restructuring phenomena are still largely underresearched.…”