Communist Planning Versus Rationality

Author : János Matyas Kovács
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 425 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2022-04-14
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781793631787

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Communist Planning versus Rationality by János Matyas Kovács Pdf

This volume examines concepts of central planning, a cornerstone of political economy in Soviet-type societies. It revolves around the theory of “optimal planning” which promised a profound modernization of Stalinist-style verbal planning. Encouraged by cybernetic dreams in the 1950s and supporting the strategic goals of communist leaders in the Cold War, optimal planners offered the ruling elites a panacea for the recurrent crises of the planned economy. Simultaneously, their planning projects conveyed the pride of rational management and scientific superiority over the West. The authors trace the rise and fall of the research program in the communist era in eight countries of Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union, and China, describing why the mission of optimization was doomed to fail and why the failure was nevertheless very slow. The theorists of optimal planning contributed to the rehabilitation of mathematical culture in economic research in the communist countries, and thus, to a neoclassical turn in economics all over the ex-communist world). However, because they have not rejected optimal planning as “computopia,” there is a large space left behind for future generations to experiment with Big Optimal Plans anew—based, at this time, on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Author : Till Düppe
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 339 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2023-04-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781009233071

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The Closed World of East German Economists by Till Düppe Pdf

History is replete with examples of scientists and social scientists working under the yoke of oppressive regimes. In The Closed World of East German Economists, Till Düppe tells the story of a generation of economists whose entire careers coincided with the forty-one-year existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In a micro-historical fashion, he examines the world of East German economists through the formative episodes in the lives of five different economists from this “hope” generation. Using both the perspective of the actors as expressed in interviews and archival material unknown to the actors, the book follows East German economics from the early days of the acceptance of Marxism-Leninism through to its interaction with Western economics and its eventual dissolution following the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It is fascinating insight into the challenges faced by economists in a unique period of European history.

Author : Maya Vinokour
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2024-02-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781501773686

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Work Flows by Maya Vinokour Pdf

Work Flows investigates the emergence of "flow" as a crucial metaphor within Russian labor culture since 1870. Maya Vinokour frames concern with fluid channeling as immanent to vertical power structures—whether that verticality derives from the state, as in Stalin's Soviet Union and present-day Russia, or from the proliferation of corporate monopolies, as in the contemporary Anglo-American West. Originating in pre-revolutionary bio-utopianism, the Russian rhetoric of liquids and flow reached an apotheosis during Stalin's First Five-Year Plan and re-emerged in post-Soviet "managed democracy" and Western neoliberalism. The literary, philosophical, and official texts that Work Flows examines give voice to the Stalinist ambition of reforging not merely individual bodies, but space and time themselves. By mobilizing the understudied thematic of fluidity, Vinokour offers insight into the nexus of philosophy, literature, and science that underpinned Stalinism and remains influential today. Work Flows demonstrates that Stalinism is not a historical phenomenon restricted to the period 1922-1953, but a symptom of modernity as it emerged in the twentieth century. Stalinism's legacy extends far beyond the bounds of the former Soviet Union, emerging in seemingly disparate settings like post-Soviet Russia and Silicon Valley.

Author : Francis Spufford
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 450 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2010-08-19
Category : History
ISBN : 9780571269471

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Red Plenty by Francis Spufford Pdf

'Bizarre and quite brilliant.' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times'Thrilling.' Michael Burleigh, Sunday Telegraph'Francis Spufford has one of the most original minds in contemporary literature.' Nick HornbyThe Soviet Union was founded on a fairytale. It was built on 20th-century magic called 'the planned economy', which was going to gush forth an abundance of good things that the penny-pinching lands of capitalism could never match. And just for a little while, in the heady years of the late 1950s, the magic seemed to be working.Red Plenty is about that moment in history, and how it came, and how it went away; about the brief era when, under the rash leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union looked forward to a future of rich communists and envious capitalists, when Moscow would out-glitter Manhattan, every Lada would be better engineered than a Porsche and sputniks would lead the way to the stars. And it's about the scientists who did their genuinely brilliant best to make the dream come true, to give the tyranny its happy ending.

Author : United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Publisher : UN-HABITAT
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : City planning
ISBN : 9789211320039

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Planning Sustainable Cities by United Nations Human Settlements Programme Pdf

This publication assesses the effectiveness of urban planning as a tool for dealing with the unprecedented challenges facing 21st-century cities and for enhancing sustainable urbanization. There is now a realization that, in many parts of the world, urban planning systems have changed very little and are often contributors to urban problems rather than functioning as tools for human and environmental improvement. Against this background, the global report's central argument is that, in most parts of the world, current approaches to planning must change and that a new role for urban planning in sustainable urban development has to be found.--Publisher's description.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 1957
Category : Communism
ISBN : UOM:39015059418882

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Problems of Communism by Anonim Pdf

Author : Nicholas Low
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 333 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781136032967

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Planning, Politics and the State by Nicholas Low Pdf

First Published in 1990. John Maynard Keynes once made the bold prediction that the three- hour work day would prevail for his grandchildren's generation. Seventy years later, the question of working time is as pertinent as it was at the inception of the 40-hour week. Not until now, however, has there been a global comparative analysis of working time laws, policies and actual working hours. Despite a century-long optimism about reduced working hours and some progress in legal measures limiting working hours, this book demonstrates that differences in actual working hours between industrialized and developing countries remain considerable – without any clear sign of hours being reduced. This study aims to offer some suggestions about how this gap can begin to be closed. most basic questions facing planning theory and practice today. The author argues that it is not plans that determine the shape of cities, but political processes. In the 1980s state planning came under siege; planners had to justify their existence to politicians, the business world and the public. Though planning must still be accountable, neither the complete domination of the market nor traditional post-war planning ideologies are wholly acceptable in the 1990s. A new agenda and a major rethinking of planning from first principles is required - but what form should this take? Showing that political theory provides the proper foundation for understanding planning practice, the book explores in turn assenting and dissenting planning paradigms. Exploration of the former begins with Weber and moves through pluralism, corporatism and neo-liberalism. Dissenting theory is organized around the work of Marx: orthodox neo-Marxism, Gramsci's 'philosophy of praxis', the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and the work of Habermas. The author concludes with a presentation of an integrated political perspective upon planning and the state.

Author : Vladimir Tismaneanu,Jordan Luber
Publisher : Central European University Press
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2021-05-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9789633864067

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One Hundred Years of Communist Experiments by Vladimir Tismaneanu,Jordan Luber Pdf

Why has communism’s humanist quest for freedom and social justice without exception resulted in the reign of terror and lies? The authors of this collective volume address this urgent question covering the one hundred years since Lenin’s coup brought the first communist regime to power in St. Petersburg, Russia in November 1917. The first part of the volume is dedicated to the varieties of communist fantasies of salvation, and the remaining three consider how communist experiments over many different times and regions attempted to manage economics, politics, as well as society and culture. Although each communist project was adapted to the situation of the country where it operated, the studies in this volume find that because of its ideological nature, communism had a consistent penchant for totalitarianism in all of its manifestations. This book is also concerned with the future. As the world witnesses a new wave of ideological authoritarianism and collectivistic projects, the authors of the nineteen essays suggest lessons from their analyses of communism’s past to help better resist totalitarian projects in the future.

Author : Tshilidzi Marwala
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2021-03-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780128209448

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Rational Machines and Artificial Intelligence by Tshilidzi Marwala Pdf

Intelligent machines are populating our social, economic and political spaces. These intelligent machines are powered by Artificial Intelligence technologies such as deep learning. They are used in decision making. One element of decision making is the issue of rationality. Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require that decisions that are made by these intelligent machines are explainable. Rational Machines and Artificial Intelligence proposes that explainable decisions are good but the explanation must be rational to prevent these decisions from being challenged. Noted author Tshilidzi Marwala studies the concept of machine rationality and compares this to the rationality bounds prescribed by Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon and rationality bounds derived from the work of Nobel Laureates Richard Thaler and Daniel Kahneman. Rational Machines and Artificial Intelligence describes why machine rationality is flexibly bounded due to advances in technology. This effectively means that optimally designed machines are more rational than human beings. Readers will also learn whether machine rationality can be quantified and identify how this can be achieved. Furthermore, the author discusses whether machine rationality is subjective. Finally, the author examines whether a population of intelligent machines collectively make more rational decisions than individual machines. Examples in biomedical engineering, social sciences and the financial sectors are used to illustrate these concepts. Provides an introduction to the key questions and challenges surrounding Rational Machines, including, When do we rely on decisions made by intelligent machines? What do decisions made by intelligent machines mean? Are these decisions rational or fair? Can we quantify these decisions? and Is rationality subjective? Introduces for the first time the concept of rational opportunity costs and the concept of flexibly bounded rationality as a rationality of intelligent machines and the implications of these issues on the reliability of machine decisions Includes coverage of Rational Counterfactuals, group versus individual rationality, and rational markets Discusses the application of Moore’s Law and advancements in Artificial Intelligence, as well as developments in the area of data acquisition and analysis technologies and how they affect the boundaries of intelligent machine rationality

Author : United States. Congress
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 1416 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 1964
Category : Electronic
ISBN : MINN:31951D02196800O

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Reports and Documents by United States. Congress Pdf

Author : John E. Bowers
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2016-09-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781620322659

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One Priest's Wondering Beliefs by John E. Bowers Pdf

This book is aimed at those Christians who have begun to question the conventional understandings of Jesus, and Christianity, and even of what we mean by "God," and have become discomforted by the dissonance between their own thinking and the church's stance. A critical thinker by inclination and education, Jack Bowers explored Celtic Christian spirituality for a decade. That taught him there are other ways to live out the Christian faith than what we have been told by Rome and Protestantism. Upon retirement in 1998, no longer professionally required to reflect conventional theology, his belief structure began to wander, seriously re-examining all he had taught and believed. Having heard whispered rumors in younger years of priests "losing their faith," instead he felt he was not losing his theology but growing it. This volume leads you through the evolution of his beliefs to what he can speak out with confidence right now, understanding that as he continues to grow and experience this world, and hopefully get a little wiser, his beliefs will evolve yet farther. He invites you into this challenging spiritual pilgrimage to discover what you can confidently believe in 2016 AD.

Author : Iván Szelényi,Péter Mihályi
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2019-11-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789004413191

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Varieties of Post-communist Capitalism by Iván Szelényi,Péter Mihályi Pdf

This book intends to be a contribution to the varieties of capitalism paradigm. Our main question is to what extent the present system in Russia, the model of President Putin is a generic model for all post-communist capitalisms.

Author : János Mátyás Kovács
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1994-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1412840341

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Transition to Capitalism? by János Mátyás Kovács Pdf

This work observes how the political ideologies, social values, and theoretical paradigms of Eastern European scholars and politicians changed throughout the period of transformation following the 1989 political revolutions in Eastern Europe. The authors try to reinterpret the institutions, movements, and ideologies that allegedly contributed to the erosion of the old regimes in Eastern Europe, asking whether these--alternative--legacies of communism support the transition to capitalism.

Author : Un-Habitat
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2016-05-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781134900718

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Planning Sustainable Cities by Un-Habitat Pdf

Current urban planning systems are not equipped to deal with the major urban challenges of the twenty-first century, including effects of climate change, resource depletion and economic instability, plus continued rapid urbanization with its negative consequences such as poverty, slums and urban informality. These planning systems have also, to a large extent, failed to meaningfully involve and accommodate the ways of life of communities and other stakeholders in the planning of urban areas, thus contributing to the problems of spatial marginalization and exclusion. It is clear that urban planning needs to be reconsidered and revitalized for a sustainable urban future. Planning Sustainable Cities reviews the major challenges currently facing cities and towns all over the world, the emergence and spread of modern urban planning and the effectiveness of current approaches. More importantly, it identifies innovative urban planning approaches and practices that are more responsive to current and future challenges of urbanization. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date global assessment of human settlements conditions and trends. It is an essential reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations all over the world. Preceding issues of the report have addressed such topics as Cities in a Globalizing World, The Challenge of Slums, Financing Urban Shelter and Enhancing Urban Safety and Security.

Author : Vincent Barnett
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2020-10-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000115673

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Marx by Vincent Barnett Pdf

Karl Marx has been portrayed in equal measure both as a political prophet who foresaw the end of capitalist exploitation, and as a populist Anti- Christ whose totalitarian legacy has cost millions of lives worldwide. This new biography looks beyond these caricatures in order to understand more about the real Karl Marx; about his everyday life and personal circumstances as well as his political ideology. The book tells the life story of a man of ideas, showing how his political and economic thought developed alongside his life and practical work. Vincent Barnett seeks to paint Karl Marx not as a static, unwavering character, but as a man whose beliefs developed dynamically over time. The book explores his personal background, and problems of personal income and family health. It also examines the influence of Hegel's methods on Marx's work, and his relationship with Engels. This lively, up to date guide to the life of Karl Marx provides an excellent starting point for students in history, politics and philosophy, and for all those with an interest in Marxism and political ideas.