Inequality and socialism in rural China: A conceptual note

Given the serious failure to conceptualize inequality in relation to the developing mode of production in China and within socialist societies generally, more analytical attention needs to be focused on the sources, nature, significance and implications of equality and inequality at both theoretical and policy-oriented levels. Here a conceptual scheme which distinguishes between socialist inequalities based upon unequal human capabilities, and capitalist inequalities based on unequal ownership of or access to the means of production is applied to an examination of past and present inequalities in rural China, both those between villages and regions and those within collectives. Finally, suggestions are put forward for the reduction of these inequalities.     

Price control techniques in poor countries: the Tanzanian case

This paper looks at the techniques used by the Tanzanian Price Commission to fix maximum prices for locally manufactured goods. The effects of these techniques on the duel objectives of price control – economic efficiency and political stability – are analysed. After an examination of possible alternative techniques it is concluded that, despite its theoretical weaknesses, the present system of cost-plus pricing is probably the most appropriate for most Tanzanian industries, especially in view of the country's severe manpower constraint. However, greater incentives to improve productive efficiency could be incorporated into the present system.     

Equalizing opportunity through small business development: A south african perspective

The active development of the small firm sector is thought to present a vehicle highly appropriate to the task of equalizing opportunity in a very unequal society—the developing country of South Africa. This article seeks to evaluate the merits of the above assumption. It calls for a closer understanding of the unique difficulties encountered by a minority business group that has experienced a long history of prejudice and discrimination, namely the black, essentially small business sector of South Africa. The author calls for careful appraisal of available development initiatives in order to effectively serve the interests of this group.     

Taxation in the Tanzanian gold sector: Overview of impacts and possible solutions

This paper analyses the factors that reduce the gold sector's contribution to the Tanzanian government's revenue. Tanzania is among Africa's largest gold exporters. Yet ordinary Tanzanians have seen little benefit from this. This is partly because the government has enacted tax laws that are, as we shall see, overly favourable to multinational mining companies, and partly because of the same companies' business practices. Critics argue that the government fails to capture a substantial amount of state revenue as a result of low royalty rates, unpaid corporate taxes and tax evasion by major gold mine operators. This paper argues that the Tanzanian government should try to increase its share of revenues by taxation based on revenues, increasing its auditing skills and its involvement in mining, as well as by increasing the transparency of contracts and limiting the discretionary power of policy-makers in negotiating contracts.     

Nationalism,socialism and planning: Influential ideas in the South

The paper discusses the origin of three influential ideas in the South, the reasons why they are found persuasive by Southern elites, and finally whether they are helpful in promoting modernization. It argues that all three ideas are Janus-faced, combining the ‘modern’ aspects of the rationalist Enlightenment with the partly ‘pre-modern’ rural nostalgia of the Romantic movement. But the ideas are dysfunctional in terms of the desired aims of ‘nation-building’ and attaining material progress. Nationalism, far from being an adhesive can become a disintegrative force in pluralistic societies. Planning becomes a means of suppressing the agents of the economic modernization that is desired. The waving of the Enlightenment and socialist banner of equality in suppressing the merchant, financier and entrepreneur is a smokescreen. The suppression reflects more atavistic impulses, which amount to a denial of the irreducible uncertainty that unavoidably attends commercialization, monetization and industrialization.     

Retreat from utopia: The reconfiguration of Russian socialism

Although it has been fashionable to assert since the late eighties that Russia is in transition from administrative command planning to capitalism, close analysis reveals that this is hardly the case. Soviet and now Russian leaders have been trying throughout to retain state economic control while harnessing the market for their own public and private ends. In doing so, they have only succeeded in creating a bastard form of socialism that has simultaneously endogenized hyper-inflation, acute depression, suppressed competition, spawn-microeconomic disorder, and kleptocracy. The outlook for the future is more of the same. The research underlying this paper was supported by a grant from the Abe Foundation, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the Social Science Research Council, and the American Council of Learned Societies. The author wishes to express his appreciation to all these institutions.     

The causes and impact of the african debt crisis

This article examines the African debt crisis. It focuses on factors leading to the accumulation of the debts and their impact on the debtor nations. The significance of the study lies in the fact that the African debt burden presents a gruesome picture of hopelessness. This is reflected by the continent’s massive debt of $230 billion, equivalent to almost three times the continent’s annual export earnings. This is expected to jump to $550 billion by the year 2000. Africa’s crushing debt burden has become one of the most important factors constraining recovery and development. As the United Nations Children’s Fund estimates, one thousand people die each day in Africa because of the debt crisis. The analysis shows that due to the multifaceted nature of the causes of the debt crisis, both creditors and debtors should agree on the options for dealing with the crisis. It further shows that there is the urgency for Africa to tackle its numerous sociopolitico-economic problems. Africa can make real economic progress only when it begins to get on top of its debt crisis.     

Effects of smuggling under african conditions: A factual,institutional and analytic discussion

Zusammenfassung Wirkungen des Schmuggels unter afrikanischen Bedingungen. Eine faktische, institutionelle und analytische Diskussion.— Die Verfasser untersuchen die faktischen und institutionellen Bedingungen des Schmuggels in Afrika und verwenden sie, um einige Modifikationen am theoretischen Modell des Schmuggels von Bhagwati und Hansen zu begründen. Aus diesen Modifikationen ergeben sich einige Gründe, die den Schmuggel für die beteiligten L?nder als vorteilhaft erscheinen lassen. Zu den Annahmen, die diese Modifikationen bewirken, geh?rt erstens, da\ illegaler Handel keine gr?\eren realen Kosten verursacht als legaler Handel, zweitens, da\ der Schmuggel das gleichzeitige Auftreten zweier verschiedener Preise für das gleiche Gut in einem Land erlaubt, drittens, da\ Handelsbeschr?nkungen Verzerrungen auf den Güterm?rkten hervorrufen, die durch den Schmuggel beseitigt werden, und viertens, da\ die Rationierung importierter Zwischenprodukte die allgemeinen Produktionsm?glichkeiten verringert.

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Résumé Les effets de la contrebande sous les conditions africaines. Une discussion des faits, des institutions et de l’analyse. — Les conditions de la contrebande en Afrique, données par des faits et des institutions, sont examinées et utilisées pour motiver quelques modifications du modèle théorique de contrebande par Bhagwati et Hansen. Ces modifications donnent quelques raisons pourquoi on peut attendre que la contrebande serait avantageuse pour les pays impliqués. Les hypothèses qui créent ces modifications incluent: (i) que le commerce illégal ne cause plus de co?ts réels que le commerce légal; (ii) que la contrebande permet la présence simultanée de deux prix différents pour la même marchandise dans un pays; (iii) que les restrictions au commerce augmentent les déformations aux marchés qui sont disparues par la contrebande; (iv) que le rationnement des importations des produits intermédiaires réduit les possibilités générales de la production.

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Resumen Los efectos del contrabando bajo condiciones africanas: una discusión institucional, analítica y de los hechos. — Se examinan los hechos relacionados con y las condiciones institucionales del contrabando en el Africa con el fin de motivar varias modificaciones del modelo teórico de contrabando de Bhagwati y Hansen. Estas modificaciones proveen varias explicaciones para la hipótesis de que el contrabando sería beneficioso para los países participantes. Los supuestos que generan estas modificaciones incluyen: (i) que el comercio ilegal no justifica costos reales más altos que el comercio legal, (ii) que el contrabando permite la aparición simultánea de dos precios diferentes para el mismo producto en un país, (iii) que restricciones al comercio dan lugar a distorsiones en los mercados de bienes que son superadas por el contrabando y (iv) que el racionamiento de bienes intermedios importados reduce las posibilidades totales de producción.

     

Institutional Adjustment and Transaction Costs: Product and Inputs Markets in the Tanzanian Coffee System

Commodity market liberalization can improve incentives for production of export crops by reducing the total costs of transforming products through space, form and time, or by reducing the costs of arranging and completing transactions. While liberalization often leads to reduced costs in output exchange, it can remove opportunities for linked input–output transactions that sometimes lowered the costs of providing finance in state-controlled markets. Assessments of liberalization that focus on output exchange alone obscure the impact of rising transaction costs in finance. This study of liberalization in the Tanzanian coffee market documents declining costs in output marketing, rising transaction costs for financing farm activities, and differential, but generally positive, net impacts on growers.     

深圳：先行示范区蕴含八重战略意义

<正>8月18日,《中共中央、国务院关于支持深圳建设中国特色社会主义先行示范区的意见》隆重推出!对于深圳来讲,这其中的意义极为重要,我概括了一下,大约八个方面:其一,承先启后,继往开来。我们知道,深圳经济特区是在1979年8月26日经全国人大常委会正式批准成立的,在深圳特区成立四十周年前夕,中央给深圳再一次赋予建设中国特色社会