JANOS KORNAI AND HIS MEMORABLE WORK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/economyukr.2021.12.083Keywords:
Janos Kornaj; anti-equilibrium; deficit; hard budget constraints; socialism.Abstract
Janos Kornai is the foremost economist of the socialist and post-socialist countries in the last 50 years. He was a world-famous scientist, who left behind the great legacy of works published in more than 20 languages. His theory of system anti-equilibrium in the centrally planned economy, the concept of soft and hard budget constraints, and the economic deficit had revolutionary significance for the scientific explanation of the production processes and distribution and deepening of capital in the state socialist economics. His contribution to the political economy of socialism, which he taught at Harvard University was particularly significant. In practice, Kornai was satisfied with the descriptive approach analysing of the socialist system whereas, in works published after 1989 he drew attention to normative economics, proposing the ways of structural reform, institutional constructions, and economic policy in the post-socialist transition stage. His last book, in which anti-equilibrium characterized by deficits under socialism compared with the anti-equilibrium specific to the overflows under capitalism is essential.
The evolution of the academic thought of this eminent economist and its influence on real economic processes was analyzed. Polemical comments about the interpretation of economic and social processes, which takes place in China are added.
References
Kornai J. Anti-Equilibrium: On Economic System Theory and the Task of Research. North Holland, Amsterdam.
Kornai J. By Force of Thought: Irregular Memoirs of an Intellectual Journey. Cambridge, Mass, London, MIT Press.
Kornai J. Economics of Shortage. North-Holland, Amsterdam.
Kolodko Grzegorz W. Economic growth phases in Poland. Gospodarka Planowa, 1979, No. 3. pp. 137-143 [in Polish].
Kornai J. The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism. Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.
Kolodko Grzegorz W. Stabilization Policy in Poland: Challenges and Constraints. Research Institute of Finance, Warsaw, Working Papers, 1989, No. 3, available at : www.tiger.edu.pl/kolodko/working/if/IF_working_papers_nr3.pdf
Kolodko Grzegorz W., Ostrowski M., Rosati D. Stabilization Policy in Poland: Challenges and Constraints. World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, WIDER, Working Papers, 1990, WP 81 available at: www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/WP81.pdf
Kolodko Grzegorz W., Gotz-Kozierkiewicz D., Skrzeszewska-Paczek E. Hyperinflation and Stabilization in Postsocialist Economies. Boston, Dordrecht, London, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992.
doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3894-9
Kornai J. Dynamism, Rivalry, and the Surplus Economy: Two Essays on the Nature of Capitalism. New York, Oxford University Press, 2014.
doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199334766.001.0001
Gorbachev M.S. Perestroika and New Thinking: A Retrospective. Russian Global Affairs, September 08, 2021, available at: eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/perestroika-and-new-thinking/
Kornai J. The Affinity between Ownership and Coordination Mechanisms: The Common Experience of Reform in Socialist Countries. UNU-WIDER, Helsinki, Research for Action, 1990.
doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11559-4_3
Kolodko Grzegorz W., MacMahon W. Stagflation and Shortageflation: A Comparative Approach. Kyklos, 1987, Vol. 40, Fasc. 2, pp. 176-197
doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1987.tb02671.x
Kolodko Grzegorz W. Shortageflation 3.0: War Economy - State Socialism - Pandemic Crisis. Acta Oeconomica, Special Issue, 2021 (forthcoming).
doi.org/10.15407/etet2021.03.005
Kornai J. The Role of the State in a Post-Socialist Economy. Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management (WSPiZ), Warsaw, Distinguished Lectures Series, 2001, No. 6, available at: www.tiger.edu.pl/publikacje/dist/kornai.pdf
Piatkowski M. Europe's Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, 2018.
doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198789345.001.0001
Kolodko Grzegorz W. Socialism, Capitalism, or Chinism? Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 2018, Vol. 51, Iss. 4, pp. 285-298, available at: online.ucpress.edu/cpcs/article-abstract/51/4/285/567/Socialism-capitalism-or-Chinism?redirectedFrom=fulltext
doi.org/10.1016/j.postcomstud.2018.10.002
Nuti D.M. The Rise and Fall of Socialism. Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute. Berlin, 2018, available at: doc-research.org/2018/05/rise_and_fall_of_socialism/
Popov V. Mixed Fortunes: An Economic History of China, Russia, and the West. New York, Oxford University Press, 2014.
doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198703631.001.0001
Kornai J. The Soft Budget Constraints. Kyklos, 1986, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 3-30.
doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1986.tb01252.x
Kornai J. From Socialism to Capitalism. Budapest, New York, Central European University Press, 2008.
Kornai J. Economists shareblame for China's 'monstrous' turn. Financial Times, July 11, 2019.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Economy of Ukraine
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.