Tergiversating
Regime ‘Economic Paradigms’
Shaping
the Discourse on Capitalism & Millennial Democratic Socialism - I
Public Lecture –
Respublica Litereria - RL Vol XIII No 430 MMXIX
Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD
President, Ethiopian
Management Professionals Association
Professor of Public Policy
& Sustainable Institutional Reforms
Abstract
The history of economic thought
is a juggernaut of blueprints penned by Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Lenin, Keynes,
Hayek, Ricardo, Mill and many pundits who developed unparalleled thoughts
throughout the centuries. The forces of the market-state chemistry and
capital-labour relations have been the dominant focus of research that inform
the vicissitudes witnessed in the inability of economic principles to explain
the global crises witnessed in the 21st Century. One of the
differences between neoclassical and Keynesian economics is about the
determinants of long run growth. Indeed, there is no natural mechanism
producing convergence towards an economy’s potential state. For the value of a
commodity, says Marx, is the amount of labour it has within itself. However, no
matter what its form, it is eventually reducible to labour, and all
commodities, in this perfect system, will be priced according to the amount of
labour, direct or indirect, that they contain. Globalisation saw the systematic
deployment of outsourcing production in countries offering cheap labour,
minimised corporate tax burdens and other incentives for transnational
corporations, and the invention of the trade in economic derivatives.
Meanwhile, neoliberal political economy gradually became the new orthodoxy,
increasing its impact through right wing think tanks and government advisors
and spreading its influence in academia and economic thought. Neoliberalism has
promoted a self-centeredness pushing Smith-style individualism to an extreme,
turning selfishness into a virtue, as Ayn Rand has done. The Economist, in its
article, “The resurgent left - Millennial socialism, undergirds a new kind of
left-wing doctrine is emerging. Socialism is storming back because it has
formed an incisive critique of what has gone wrong in Western societies.
Whereas politicians on the right have all too often given up the battle of
ideas and retreated towards chauvinism and nostalgia, the left has focused on
inequality, the environment, and vesting power in citizens rather than elites. The
millennial socialist vision of a “democratised” economy spreads regulatory
power around rather than concentrating it. Nevertheless, like the socialism of
old, it suffers from a faith in the incorruptibility of collective action and
an unwarranted suspicion of individual vim. Rapid and sustained poverty
reduction requires inclusive growth that allows people to contribute to and
benefit from economic growth. Rapid pace of growth is unquestionably necessary
for substantial poverty reduction, but for this growth to be sustainable in the
end, it should be broad-based across
sectors and inclusive of the
large part of a nation’s work force. This implies a direct link between the
macro and micro determinants of growth. The micro dimension captures the
importance of structural transformation for diversification and competition,
including creative destruction of jobs and firms.
Key words: Globalisation, Democratic
Socialism, Millennial socialism, Keynesianism, Neoliberalism,
See paper here or https://www.academia.edu/38468491/Tergiversating_Regime_Economic_Paradigms_-_Capitalism_vs._Democratic_Socialism_RL_Vol_XIII_No_430_MMXIX.pdf
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