1 ... The essence of the concept "World economy".
WORLD ECONOMY - the economy of all countries of the world community, considered taking into account intercountry economic relations and interactions. This is a set of national economies, united by various types of world economic ideology.
The world economy as a science (or academic discipline) is a part of the theory of a market economy that studies the patterns of economic interaction between different states in the field of international exchange of goods and services, the movement of factors of production relations.
The world economy is a set of national economies of the countries of the world, interconnected by mobile factors of production. It is a worldwide, global, geo-economic space in which goods, services, and capital freely circulate in the interests of increasing the efficiency of material production.
World economy- a set of national economies of the countries of the world, interconnected by mobile factors of production. This is a worldwide, global, geo-economic space, in which goods, services, and capital freely circulate in the interests of increasing the efficiency of material production.
The characteristic features of the modern world economy are as follows:
Development of the international movement of factors of production, primarily in the forms of export-import of capital, labor and technology;
The growth on this basis of international forms of production in enterprises located in several countries, primarily within the framework of transnational corporations;
Economic policy of states providing for the support of the international movement of goods and factors of production on a bilateral and multilateral basis;
The emergence of an open economy within many states and interstate associations.
2. Natural resource potential of the world economy
Natural resources are the primary source, the starting base of the economy of all countries at all stages of their development. Natural resources are of two types: renewable and non-renewable. Recoverable resources can be used periodically and in an amount that does not deplete their cash for future consumption. Renewable natural resources include land, sea, rivers, solar heat and energy, etc. Forests, wildlife and fish stocks can also be examples of renewable resources. If logging and fishing are carried out moderately and rationally, then nature itself will take care of their reproduction. Non-renewable resources include those that are used once and are not reproduced by nature itself. These resources include coal, oil, gas, etc.
Natural resources have two important economic dimensions - stock size and flow. The amount of stock of each resource is determined by the very nature and intensity of the previous use. Natural resource flows depend on the level of their annual consumption. Human needs determine this flow, and depending on them, natural resource stocks can be consumed quickly, slowly, or not used at all.
Labor force as an active part of the population - the second important component. The higher its share in the population, the more significant the productive capacity of the national economy.
The size of the employed (active) labor force depends on many economic, social and demographic factors. In terms of the share of employed, developing countries are significantly inferior to developed countries, and the number of hours worked per week is much higher in developing countries.
The rapid population growth in developing countries, the low share of its active part significantly slow down, even lower the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which dooms the ongoing efforts for economic development to failure. All attempts to solve the problems of economic growth in developing countries are doomed to failure on their own. The solution to the issue is possible only within the framework of the world economy, in which each country will find its own writing in the MRI system.
What population size should be considered optimal from an economic point of view, and what are the criteria for such optimality? Since the per capita income depends on the size of the population, the optimal amount can be considered such an amount that maximizes per capita income .
Labor resources and the population movement as a whole is demography- a science that, on the basis of social, economic, biological, geographical factors, explores the patterns of what is happening in the structure, dynamics, as well as the distribution and movement of the population. On the basis of this, a population policy is developed, predictive estimates of changes in the country's population of the country, region and within the framework of the world economy as a whole are made.
Urbanization processes are an integral part of demographic processes in the world economy. . Urbanization is a multifaceted socio-economic, demographic and geographical process taking place on the basis of historically established forms of social and territorial division of labor. In the narrow sense of the word, this is the growth of cities, especially large ones, an increase in the proportion of the urban population in the country, region, and the world.
With a fixed level of technology, the amount of land and capital, a too small population does not provide the necessary space either for the maximum effect of the division of labor, or for the full realization of the effect of the scale of production of the national industry.
Problems of big cities: significant geographic disparity between jobs and labor in the suburbs and urban centers, which requires the creation of an efficient transport system; environmental pollution.
Fossil resources. Their deposits have varying degrees of knowledge and varying degrees of estimation accuracy. In foreign countries, the following classification is applied. Explored reserves are divided into reliable and probable according to the degree of exploration. There is also a category of possible stocks. In general, the study of the subsoil is still insufficient. The specific weight of proven reserves for some types of minerals sometimes amounts to several percent of geological reserves. Mineral reserves vary by country.
The influence of the natural resource potential of the state on the development of the national economy and its integration into the MEO.
To understand this issue, you need to get acquainted with the essence of the so-called ... "Dutch syndrome"... Many countries rich in raw materials are subject to its influence, incl. and Russia. The essence "Dutch syndrome" lies in the fact that the presence of a large number of various minerals does not guarantee prosperity for the country at all, and under certain conditions even harms its economy, and vice versa. As a rule, a stable inflow of export earnings from the fuel and energy complex or other raw material industries (sectors) leads to the fact that the country ceases to pay attention to the development of its manufacturing industry, preferring to purchase imported equipment and finished products.
In Russia, this disease began to develop back in the 70s. This was due to the jump in oil prices and the discovery of new oil fields in Western Siberia (Samotlor and others). Soviet industry, during this period, produced mainly non-competitive products. In addition, the USSR had no export guidelines and came into contact with the outside world exclusively through the supply of raw materials and fuel. High-tech equipment was purchased for the proceeds from export, and most of it was not accepted by the economy, since the system that existed at that time was not focused on innovation. Oddly enough, radical reforms only made the situation worse. The reformers, guided by the Darwinian principle of natural selection (everything that is viable must survive, and what is not viable will die), pushed the domestic economy not to renewal, but to primitivization. It has become increasingly focused on fuel and raw materials exports.
An example of the opposite approach is the experience of Western Europe, Japan, the United States and the newly industrialized countries (NIS). The first three, faced with a fuel and raw materials crisis in the 70s, focused on the development of energy-saving technologies and reduced energy consumption by 30% in 30 years. The latter (NIS) took advantage of the transfer of labor-intensive industries from developed countries to developing countries, which began in the 60s, and made to fill a niche in the market of consumer goods and household appliances.
The main difference between the experience of the raw material countries of Southeast Asia and Russia is that, albeit with a twenty-year delay, they nevertheless focused on the development of the manufacturing industry.
So one can do output, that the availability of minerals is an important condition for the country's integration into the MEO; however, if the stake is placed only on them, this inevitably leads to a weakening of the country's position in terms of the competitiveness of its exports, because stable income can only be provided export of manufacturing products ... The experience of the countries of Southeast Asia shows that economic success can also be associated with the quality of the labor force. Confucianism left a legacy of these countries with the most important qualities: discipline, learning, hard work, patriotism.
3. Classification of countries by the level of socio-economic development
Not all countries (and there are about two hundred of them) are equally involved in the world economy. From the point of view of the level of their development and socio-economic organization of production and the complex structure of the world economy, the center and the periphery are quite clearly seen.
The center is made up of a relatively small group of industrially developed countries (24 states), which account for almost 55% of world GDP and 71% of world exports.
The periphery includes mainly developing countries. With all their diversity, a number of common features can be distinguished:
The diversified nature of the economy with a predominance of off-market relations and non-economic levers for organizing the economy;
Low level of development of productive forces, backwardness of industry and agriculture;
Raw materials specialization.
NEW INDUSTRIAL COUNTRIES - a group of developing countries that have reached, by the end of the XX century. significant economic recovery, approaching in terms of basic socio-economic indicators to highly developed economically countries, for example, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.
A country's activity in world trade is measured using indicators such as:
a) export quota, i.e. the ratio of the volume of exported goods and services to GDP / GNP; at the industry level, this is the share of all goods and services exported by the industry in their total volume;
b) import quota- an indicator characterizing the volume of imports of a certain product, established in accordance with the needs for it and the volume of its own production. It is the ratio of a given country's gross imports to its GDP. It shows how much of the import is from the GDP;
v) foreign trade quota is the ratio of the value of the country's foreign trade turnover to the volume of its GDP. It shows the total volume of foreign trade of a given country with a partner country or with the entire world community, i.e. serves to measure the level of development of foreign economic relations of a given country.
b) export structure , those. ratio or specific weights of exported goods by type and degree of their processing. The export structure makes it possible to single out the raw materials or machine-technical orientation of exports, the country's role in international industry specialization;
v) import structure, the ratio of the volumes of raw materials imported into the country and finished products. This indicator most clearly shows the dependence of the country's economy on the external market and the level of development of the branches of the national economy;
d) the comparative ratio of the country's share in world production of GDP / GNP and its share in world trade. So, if the share of a country in the world production of any type of product is 10%, and its share in world trade in this product is 1-2%, then this means a discrepancy between the manufactured goods and the world quality level as a result of the low development of this industry.
4. The international division of labor and its importance for the development of the world economy
INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOR - specialization of countries in the production of certain types of goods, for the manufacture of which the country has cheaper resources and preferable conditions in comparison with other countries. With this specialization, the needs of countries are met not only by their own production, but also through international trade. This is the specialization of individual countries in the production of certain goods and services in order to sell them in other countries.
MRI is a system or method of organizing interdependent production, in which enterprises in different countries specialize in the manufacture of certain goods and services, and then exchange them.
The first factor has to do with natural benefits. These include reserves of natural resources, specific climatic conditions.
Other factors relate to acquired benefits. So the surplus of machinery and equipment relative to other resources stimulates specialization in the production of capital-intensive products. Countries that invest heavily in education and knowledge production gain a comparative advantage in the manufacture of high-tech and science-intensive products.
The main driver of MRI for all countries of the world, regardless of social and economic differences, is their desire to obtain economic benefits.
Intra-industry, which expresses the concentration of efforts of enterprises of different countries that are part of some industry on the production of certain items and the exchange of these items between them.
Within its framework, it is necessary to distinguish between single-species, multi-species and all-species subject intra-industry specialization.
Interbranch, which means the division of labor between different sectors of the same kind of production (industry, agriculture, etc.).
Intergeneric is the division of labor between the kinds of production - industry and agriculture, industry and construction, etc. National economic I am according to its economic content, it corresponds to the interregional form of the division of labor within the country and represents the division of activities between countries on the scale of their complete national economies.
5. The process of internationalization of the modern world economy
INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE ECONOMY - the formation, development of economic ties with other countries; processes of economic convergence, manifested in the growth of international trade and other forms of international economic cooperation, the growth of intercountry financial flows, labor migration. Distinguish between the internationalization of production, capital, trade, science. One of the important forms of internationalization of the economy is the emergence and development of transnational corporations. The economic basis of the modern world economy is the internationalization of production - the development of such organizational and economic forms that link the production of some countries with the consumption of its results in others.
Internationalization of business activities- this is the strengthening of the relationship and interdependence of the economies of individual countries, the impact of international economic relations on national economies, the participation of countries in the world economy.
In its development, the internationalization of the economy took place a series of stages . Initially, it represented international economic cooperation: it affected, first of all, the sphere of circulation and was associated with the emergence of international trade (late 18th - early 20th centuries). At the end of the 19th century, the international movement of capital is gaining momentum. International economic cooperation means the development of stable economic ties between countries and peoples, the exit of the reproduction process beyond national borders.
The next stage was international economic integration, objectively conditioned by the deepening of the international division of labor, the internationalization of capital, the global nature of scientific and technological progress and an increase in the degree of openness of national economies and freedom of trade. Integration translated from Latin (integratio) means the connection of separate parts into a common, whole, single.
International economic integration- convergence and mutual adaptation of national economies, their inclusion in a single reproduction process on an international scale. This is a process of economic interaction between countries, leading to the convergence of economic mechanisms, taking the form of interstate agreements and coordinatedly regulated by interstate bodies.
Economic integration, in particular, is expressed in :
Cooperation between the national economies of different countries and their complete or partial unification;
Elimination of barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital, labor between these countries;
The convergence of the markets of each of the individual countries in order to form one single (common) market;
Erasing the differences between economic entities belonging to different states;
The absence of any form of discrimination against foreign partners in each of the national economies, etc.
By the end XX v. practically all civilized countries participate in various international economic organizations. For example, by 1996, 183 countries were members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 180 states were members of the World Bank (WB), about 150 countries are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), over 100 countries are members of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. It is important to note that international law does not preclude the simultaneous participation of any country in several international economic organizations.
Although practically all states of the world take part in the global integration process, the degree of participation of each of them in this process is not the same. Some of them are at the lowest stages of economic integration, while others, having reached the highest limits of international economic relations, are expanding interstate cooperation to the level of military and political spheres.
The prerequisites for integration are as follows:
The proximity of the levels of economic development and the degree of market maturity of the integrating countries
The geographical proximity of the integrating countries, the presence in most cases of a common border and historically established economic ties.
The commonality of economic and other problems facing countries in the field of development, financing, economic regulation, political cooperation, etc.
Demonstration effect.
"Domino effect".
Integration goals
Taking advantage of economies of scale .
Creating a favorable foreign policy environment .
Solving the problems of trade policy.
Promoting economic restructuring .
Support for young industries of the national industry .
Integration stages
At the first level , when countries are just taking the first steps towards mutual rapprochement, between them are preferential trade agreements (Table 12.1). Such agreements can be signed either on a bilateral basis between individual states, or between an already existing integration group and an individual country or group of countries. In accordance with them, countries provide more favorable treatment to each other than they provide to third countries.
On the second level integration countries are moving to creating free trade zones , providing for not a simple reduction, but a complete abolition of customs tariffs in mutual trade while maintaining national customs tariffs in relations with third countries.
Third level integration linked to education customs union(TS)- coordinated cancellation by a group of national customs tariffs and the introduction of a common customs tariff and a single system of non-tariff trade regulation in relation to third countries. The Customs Union provides for duty-free intra-integration trade in goods and services and full freedom of movement within the region. Usually, a customs union requires the creation of an already more developed system of interstate bodies coordinating the implementation of a coordinated foreign trade policy. Most often, they take the form of periodic meetings of ministers directing the relevant departments, which in their work rely on a permanent interstate secretariat.
When the integration process reaches fourth level - common market (OR) - integrating countries agree on freedom of movement not only of goods and services, but also of factors of production - capital and labor.
Finally, on the fifth, the highest level of integration turns into economic union(ES), which provides, along with the general customs tariff and freedom of movement of goods and factors of production, also the coordination of macroeconomic policy and the unification of legislation in key areas - currency, budget, monetary. At this stage, there is a need for bodies that are no longer just endowed with the ability to coordinate actions and monitor economic development, but also make operational decisions on behalf of the grouping as a whole. Governments consistently relinquish part of their functions and thereby cede part of state sovereignty in favor of supranational bodies. Such interstate bodies with supranational functions are endowed with the right to make decisions on issues related to the organization, without the consent of the governments of the member states. Within the EU, it is the EU Commission.
In principle, it is possible to exist and sixth level integration - political union (PS) , which would provide for the transfer by national governments of most of their functions in relations with third countries to supranational bodies.
9 globalization of the world economy
GLOBALIZATION OF ECONOMY - strengthening of interconnections, interactions and interdependence of economies, economic systems of different countries of the world; The globalization of the world economy can also be characterized as an increase in the interdependence and mutual influence of various spheres and processes of the world economy, expressed in the gradual transformation of the world economy into a single market for goods, services, capital, labor and knowledge.
The process of globalization covers different areas of the world economy, namely:
· Foreign, international, world trade in goods, services, technologies, objects of intellectual property;
· International movement of factors of production (labor, capital, information);
· International financial and credit and foreign exchange operations (gratuitous financing and assistance, loans and borrowings of subjects of international economic relations, operations with securities, special financial mechanisms and instruments, operations with currency);
· Production, scientific and technical, technological, engineering and information cooperation.
Economic globalization is the process of accumulating structural shifts and the gradual formation of an organically integral world economy
The main prerequisites (driving forces) that determine the process of globalization:
1. Production, scientific, technical and technological:
· A sharp increase in the scale of production;
· Rapid dissemination of knowledge as a result of scientific or other types of intellectual exchange;
2. Organizational:
· International forms of industrial and economic activity (TNC): organizational forms, the framework of which goes beyond national borders, acquire an international character, contributing to the formation of a single market space;
· The emergence of non-governmental organizations on a multinational or global level. International organizations such as the UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, etc began to play a new global role;
3. Economic:
· Introduction by international economic organizations of uniform criteria for macroeconomic policy, unification of requirements for tax, regional, agricultural, antimonopoly policy, employment policy, etc .;
· Strengthening of the trend towards unification and standardization. 4. Informational:
· A radical change in the means of business communication, exchange of production, scientific and technical, economic, financial information
· The formation of systems that allow one center to manage production located in different countries, creating opportunities for the prompt, timely and effective solution of production, scientific and technical, commercial problems no worse than within individual countries.
· 5. Political:
· Weakening the rigidity of state borders, facilitating the freedom of movement of citizens, goods and services, capital;
· The end of the "cold" war, overcoming political differences between East and West.
6. Social and cultural:
· Weakening the role of habits and traditions, social ties and customs, overcoming national limitations, which increases the mobility of people in territorial, spiritual and psychological relations, contributes to international migration;
· Manifestation of the tendency of the formation of globalized "homogeneous" mass media, art, pop culture.
· Overcoming boundaries in education thanks to the development of distance learning;
Globalization processes are most often welcomed in developed countries and raise serious concerns in the developing world. The degree of positive influence of globalization processes on the economies of individual countries depends on the place they occupy in the world economy; in fact, wealthy countries or individuals receive the bulk of the benefits.
The inequitable distribution of the benefits of globalization creates the threat of conflicts at the regional, national and international levels.
The problems potentially capable of causing negative consequences from globalization processes in all countries include:
De-industrialization of the economy,
Attempts to undermine national sovereignty, i.e. transfer of control over the economies of individual countries from sovereign governments to other hands, including the most powerful states, multinational or global corporations, and international organizations.
Rising unemployment.
Potential global instability due to the interdependence of national economies at the global level.
10.Subjects of world economic relations
The subjects of world economic relations are private (individuals) and organizations (legal entities) engaged in the implementation of international economic transactions.
From the standpoint of the national economy, the subjects are divided into residents and non-residents.
Residents are economic entities permanently located on the territory of a given country, regardless of their national (state) affiliation.
Non-residents - business entities permanently located on the territory of a foreign state, even if they are citizens of this country, but permanently residing abroad, or branches of business units of a given country located outside its borders.
In addition to organizations directly involved in foreign economic activity, supranational international institutions are beginning to play an increasingly active role in the world economy. They are represented by international economic institutions involved in organizing and coordinating world economic relations. The tasks of these organizations are to create the "rules of the game" for the normal functioning of the world economy and control over the practical implementation of world economic relations.
The priority of international law in operations on the world market does not mean the complete internationalization of the foreign economic activity of the state and the replacement of its foreign economic institutions with the activities of international economic organizations.
The duty of any state is to defend national economic interests, including through foreign economic activity. Therefore, in modern conditions, the state itself determines its foreign economic policy. To implement it, each country develops its own national legislation on foreign economic activity. For example, for Russia, the fundamental laws are the federal laws "On state regulation of foreign trade"). "On foreign investments in the territory of the Russian Federation", etc. ...
Special institutes are engaged in direct regulation of foreign economic activity in each country. In Russia, such institutions include: the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations, the Ministry for Cooperation with the CIS, the Customs Committee, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vneshtorgbank, etc.
These state organizations register foreign institutional units in the country, regulate exports and imports through the issuance of licenses, quotas and the establishment of customs tariffs, facilitate the signing of interstate agreements, the promotion of domestic residents into economic unions and the world economy in general.
The states participating in the world economic process, organizing and regulating international economic relations directly within the country, can also influence world economic relations as a whole. This kind of influence is realized in many ways, first of all by using the right of the participants of this or that international economic organization to develop and correct the rules of the intra-union "game".
In addition, it should be noted that the states participating in the world economic process, especially the most economically developed and richest, have both direct and indirect opportunities to influence world economic relations, regulating them in their national interests.
Direct regulator is an protectionism, with the help of which this or that state or union in its own interests presents advantages in the export and import of goods, services and capital.
Indirect regulation states can carry out world economic relations through their private firms (especially banks) and transnational companies (TNCs).
Thus, modern states, organizing their national economy for broad participation in the world economic process, at the same time actively organize and regulate the entire complex of world economic relations. This process allows countries not only to defend their economic interests in the international arena, but at the same time to improve and develop the world economy and international economic relations.
11. Classical theories of world trade.
Mercantilists essentially proposed the enrichment of some countries at the expense of others, but their merit lies in the fact that for the first time they drew attention to the problems of foreign trade, emphasized its importance for the economic development of countries, described and substantiated a certain ratio of export and import costs, i.e. ... laid the foundations for the balance of payments.
Adam Smith noted that the well-being of a nation depends not so much on the amount of gold it has accumulated, but on its ability to produce final goods and leave. He also developed the first classical theory of foreign trade - theory of absolute advantages.
ABSOLUTE ADVANTAGE - the ability of the state, region, company, arising as a result of geographic location, successful location, resource potential, and other favorable conditions, to produce goods with minimal costs of production and circulation in comparison with other countries, regions, firms that produce the same or similar goods. Thanks to this advantage, it is possible to sell your product on the market at a lower price and bypass competitors. A. Smith argued that those countries that are actively involved in the international division of the pile will receive the greatest benefits. A country that has certain advantages in the production of a product must specialize in its release for delivery to other countries
Absolute advantage theory- countries export those goods that they produce with lower costs (in the production of which they have an absolute advantage), and import those goods that are produced by other countries with lower costs [in the production of which the advantage belongs to their trading partners).
This statement of A. Smith was supplemented by David Ricardo, creating theory of comparative advantages .
COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGES - lower costs of one producer in comparison with the costs of another, which allows dividing the output between them in favor of the first producer in order to obtain greater returns, benefits. Comparative advantages are most characteristic of different countries and are manifested in international trade.
Comparative advantage theory - Since the country's producers specialize in the production of those goods that they can produce at relatively lower costs compared to other countries, then trade will be mutually beneficial for both countries, regardless of whether production in one of them is absolutely more efficient than in the other.
Ricardo proved that foreign trade brings additional benefits even to highly efficient economies.
in the 20-30s of our century to create Heckscher - Olin theories .
Heckscher-Ohlin theorem - each country exports those factor-intensive goods for the production of which it possesses relatively surplus factors of production, and imports those goods for the production of which it experiences a relative lack of factors of production.
In this theory, the factors that determine the international division of labor are already associated not only with the natural conditions of production in the country, but with the realities that have arisen in the process of development of production. The theory proceeded from the fact that the historical and natural conditions of the development of individual countries predetermined the unevenness in their provision with labor resources and capital. Therefore, different factor intensity and factor saturation determines the specialization of the country in the production of certain goods.
Factor-intensity is the ratio of the costs of various factors of production for the production of a certain product
Factor saturation Is the relative provision of the country with production factors .
Factor price equalization theorem (Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson theorem) - international trade leads to equalization of absolute and relative prices for homogeneous factors of production in trading countries
In 1947, the American economist Vasily Leontiev, examining the structure of US exports and imports, found that more labor-intensive goods were exported, and capital-intensive ones were imported. V. Leontiev's research showed the opposite, and its result became known as Leontief paradox .
The Leontief paradox- the theory of the ratio of factors of production of Heckscher-Ohlin is not confirmed in practice: labor-surplus countries export capital-intensive products, while capital-surplus - labor-intensive.
An attempt to take into account the influence of the scientific and technological revolution in international trade led to the creation neotechnological theories foreign trade. Their supporters try to explain the emergence of foreign trade ties not by the provision of production factors, as the neoclassicists did, but by the costs of research and development, the level of average wages and the share of skilled labor. This school explains the emergence of advantages by a monopoly on individual discoveries and new technologies, which makes it possible to dominate both the production of these goods and their sale on the world market until these technologies are mastered by other countries.
technology gap theory , the foundations of which were laid by the English economist M. Posner in the early 60s. Posner suggested that if one of the developed countries, as a result of some kind of discovery, has a fundamentally new technology or a new product, then this product will be in demand even in countries with the same resource availability. Then, as a result of the predominant position of one country, a technological gap arises between the countries.
This model was developed by another American economist, Raymond Vernon, who in 1966 published an article describing the model of the life cycle of a product, which can be considered both as an independent theory of international trade, and as a theory that develops the theory of comparative provision of factors of production. But unlike her, she explores the comparative advantage of countries not in static, but in dynamics.
International trade is based on differences in the relative prices of goods that arise due to the different endowments of countries with specific factors of production, with factors specific to the export sector developing, while factors specific to the sector that compete with imports diminish.
Theory of the firm associated with the strengthening of the role of individual firms and corporations in international trade. V in the final analysis, it is not the nation that always gains the comparative advantage, but the individual exporter of the given product. In the course of the research, it turned out that technologically complex products are created by a separate company based on the needs and demands that exist within the country. Only after the expansion of production and saturation of the internal market can the company enter the external market. But in order to sell your products, you need to find a buying country, whose structure of demand in the domestic market would be as close as possible to the structure of demand of the exporting country. This explains the possibility of carrying out trade transactions between countries that are at the same level of economic development, in particular between developed industrial countries. This provision was first substantiated by an American economist E. Linder.
A kind of generalization of the modern development of theories of foreign trade is theory of international competitiveness of the nation , developed by the American researcher M. Porter. He concluded that the place of each country and its specific producers in the world market depends on four basic conditions: the quantity and quality of various factors of production, the conditions of demand in the domestic market, the presence of related and service industries, the firm's strategy, and internal competition.
12. Modern theories of international trade
All theories of international trade in one way or another pay attention to the formation of the equilibrium price in the world market and the distribution of income.
Neoclassical theories considered the problem of income as one of the key ones. Theory Heckschera - Olin proved that the owners of relatively excessive factors of production receive additional profits from foreign trade, and the owners of relatively insufficient factors lose.
The theory of specific factors of production substantiates the provision on an increase in the income of the owner of a specific factor used in export industries, and, accordingly, on a reduction in the income of the owners of a specific factor used in industries. competing with imports.
In the process of trade between countries, prices for goods sold and purchased may change. How, in this case, will the incomes of the owners of the factors of production change? The answer to this question was given in a study by American economists P. Samuelson and F. Stolper. They suggested that two types of goods are produced in a single country: one is labor-intensive, and the other requires a large amount of land to produce.
Stolper - Samuelson theorem - As a result of rising prices in the world market, prices for the factor of production, relatively more intensively used in the production of the first good, rise, and prices for the factor of production, used relatively intensively in the second production, decrease. Moreover, as a rule, an increase or decrease in the price of factors of production occurs to a greater extent than a change in the prices of goods.
English economist T.M. Rybchinsky drew attention to the fact that the rapid development of some industries often leads to a reduction in production in others. In his work, he proceeded from the same conditions as Stolper and Samuelson, except for one thing: he considered the prices of goods unchanged.
Rybczynski's theorem- an increasing supply of one of the factors of production leads to a disproportionately large percentage increase in production and income in the industry for which this factor is used relatively more intensively, and to a decrease in production and income in the industry in which this factor is used relatively less intensively. From the point of view of international trade, Rybczynski's theorem says that the expansion of export production due to an increase in supply of a relatively intensive factor will lead to a reduction in other industries, which will force the country to increase imports of goods that are in short supply. An increase in the supply of factors for the development of other industries will accelerate their development and reduce imports.
The distribution of benefits from foreign trade between individual countries depends largely on how domestic prices change under the influence of foreign trade. Of the two countries, the country where prices have changed more usually wins. This is the so-called benefit-sharing rule, which says that the gains from foreign trade are distributed in direct proportion to price changes in both countries.
13. Supply and demand in international trade
export resources currency funds- vehicles, warehouses, communication facilities, etc. Settlements for foreign trade operations are made by banking organizations, and the country's insurance business insures transportation and cargo.
Export import - trade balance foreign trade turnover .
At the bottom of the market there is trade in ferrous metallurgy products, construction materials, textiles, garments, footwear and other light industry products. On the Middle level sell machine tools, vehicles, rubber and plastic products, basic chemicals and woodworking products. On the highest level sells aerospace equipment, automated office equipment, information technology, electronics, pharmaceutical products, precision and measuring instruments, electrical equipment. The last tier markets are the most promising and are developing at a much faster pace than other markets.
Quality goods are always more expensive and are only available to countries with high per capita incomes. Lower quality goods are bought by countries with low per capita incomes. This predetermines the fact that countries with the same income have approximately the same structure of demand for finished goods, and the coinciding demand predetermines the most intensive exchange of finished goods between these countries.
14. Types of foreign trade policy
Foreign trade policy
Freedom of trade
Protectionism
The development of protectionist trends allows us to single out several forms of protectionism:
Selective - directed against individual countries or individual goods;
Sectoral - protects certain sectors, primarily agriculture, within the framework of agricultural protectionism;
Collective - is carried out by associations of countries in relation to countries that are not part of them;
Hidden - carried out by methods of domestic economic policy.
Protectionism as a theory of foreign economic behavior was established in XIX v. in competition with free trade (theory and practice of free trade). The results of free trade between countries with different levels of economic development were especially fiercely criticized by supporters of protectionism. It was believed that the developed countries were primarily interested in free trade, but it hindered the creation of national industries for relatively backward states.
In a developing national economy, protectionist measures are necessary for protecting only new industries that have arisen as a result of scientific and technological progress from the competition of efficient foreign firms operating in the world market for a long time. It was under the protection of protectionism that the formation and development of the national economy of modern developed countries took place.
During periods of serious tensions in relations between states and intensification of international tension, protectionist measures are used to preserve the security of the state, which is facilitated by the production of all necessary, vital products on its territory.
Despite the clearly positive influence of protectionist measures on the development of the national economy and international trade, this method of regulating foreign trade relations has its opponents. As a rule, they distinguish the following arguments against protectionism .
1) protectionism is not beneficial from the point of view of national production, since it destroys the spirit of competition, develops privileges, entails sclerosis of the economy;
2) it damages the interests of the consumer, because under the conditions of customs bans, sales prices for protected goods rise. The consumer suffers from this;
3) it is a threat to international peace, because fuels interethnic rivalry, weakens bonds of interdependence between countries, a fertile atmosphere for MRI and economic cooperation
4) protectionism is inherent in a certain illogicality - in pursuit of the goal of achieving a positive trade balance, protectionism restrains import operations, and international partners are also beginning to enter, as a result of which the volume of export operations is curtailed. This does not lead to a positive balance, but to an imbalance.
5) in conditions of protectionism, the sectors of the national economy, protected by its barriers, lose incentives for development, since the mechanisms of competition are dying out, and the desire for progress and innovation is destroyed by the opportunities to preserve the incomes achieved and monopoly privileges.
6) oppositionism has a certain multiplying effect- the technological interconnection between industries leads to the fact that when protectionist protection is introduced for some sectors of the technological chain, it is immediately required by the industries that are technologically related to the protected.
7) in conditions of protectionism, the national economy may not fully use the advantages of international specialization - restrictions on cheaper imported goods do not make it possible to import them into the country.
Freedom of trade- a policy of minimal government intervention in foreign trade, which develops on the basis of free market forces of supply and demand. In this case, the latter is implemented and developed in accordance with the international division of labor and the modern version of the theory of comparative advantage. It is believed that such a policy leads to the most efficient allocation of resources on a global scale and to the maximization of global income. Despite the fact that the theory of free trade is quite convincing and attracts with many advantages, the policy of non-interference of the state in international trade is practiced very carefully.
The positive aspects are already visible in the criticism of protectionism. Freedom of trade:
1) allows distribution of products in accordance with the law on comparative production costs and entails international specialization that is beneficial to all;
2) facilitates the development of competition and maintains a spirit of innovation not only among domestic producers, but also in relations with other countries;
3) allows you to expand the market. It leads to the development of mass production, and therefore to lower prices as a result of falling production costs, which is beneficial for the consumer. In addition, the risk of shortages associated with tight localization of production and markets is reduced.
15. Foreign trade policy of states and its economic instruments
Foreign trade policy is a set of measures used by the state to regulate trade relations and relations with other countries. While these measures are trade-oriented, they cannot but affect direct producers and domestic consumers.
Depending on the scale of state intervention in international trade, they are distinguished protectionist and free trade policies .
Freedom of trade- a policy of minimal government intervention in foreign trade, which develops on the basis of free market forces of supply and demand.
Protectionism- state policy of protecting the domestic market from foreign competition through the use of tariff and non-tariff instruments of trade policy. This is the theory and practice of foreign trade response, aimed at protecting the subjects of the national economy from foreign competition.
FOREIGN TRADE POLICY- part of the state foreign economic policy, export and import policy, impact on foreign trade through taxes, subsidies and direct restrictions on import and export.
The main task of the state in the field of international trade- help exporters export as much of their products as possible, making their goods more competitive in the international market, and restrict imports, making foreign goods less competitive in the domestic market.
Instruments of state regulation of international trade are divided into tariff- those based on the use of a customs tariff, and non-tariff- all other methods. The latter are subdivided into quantitative methods and methods of hidden protectionism.
customs tariff is determined by:
An instrument of trade policy and state regulation of the country's internal market in its interaction with the world market;
A set of rates of customs duties applied to goods transported across the border, systematized in accordance with the commodity nomenclature of foreign economic activity;
The specific rate of customs duty payable when importing or exporting a certain product into the customs territory of the country. In this case, the concept of a customs tariff completely coincides with the concept of a customs duty.
Import duty (tariff ) - this is the fee for bringing the goods into the country. In this case, the price of imported goods in the domestic market rises above the world one. Since the value of the import tariff is added to the world price. Tariffs protect domestic producers employed in import substitution industries, but domestic consumers lose out
In this situation, domestic producers have the opportunity to expand production, since they do not pay the tariff, and therefore, the "golden equality" of marginal costs and marginal income is achieved by domestic firms with a larger volume of output of goods that are optimal for them.
Types of customs duties .
Customs duty- a mandatory fee levied by customs authorities upon import or export of goods and is a condition of import or export. Customs duties fulfill three main functions :
- fiscal, which applies to both import and export duties, since they are one of the items of the revenue side of the state budget;
- protectionist (protective ), related to import duties, since with their help the state protects local producers from unwanted foreign competition;
- balancing, which refers to export duties established in order to prevent unwanted exports of goods, the domestic prices of which, for one reason or another, are lower than world prices.
Classification of customs duties. By charging method:
- ad valorem- accrued as a percentage of the customs value of taxable goods (for example, 20% of the customs value);
- specific- accrued in the established amount per unit of taxable goods ($ 10 per 1 ton);
- combined- combine both of these types of customs tax (20% of the customs value, but not more than $ 10 per 1 ton).
By the object of taxation:
- imported- duties that are imposed on imported goods when they are released for free circulation in the domestic market of the country. They are used to protect national manufacturers.
- export- duties that are imposed on export goods when they are released outside the customs territory of the state;
- transit- duties that are imposed on goods transported through the territory of a given country in transit. Used extremely rarely, primarily as a means of a trade war;
The nature:
- seasonal- duties that are applied for the operational regulation of international trade in products of a seasonal nature. First of all agricultural. The validity period does not exceed several months;
- anti-dumping- duties that are applied in the event that goods are imported into the country at a price lower than their normal price in the exporting country, if such imports harm national producers of such goods or impede the organization and expansion of national production of such goods;
- compensatory- duties imposed on the import of those goods, in the production of which subsidies were used directly or indirectly, if their import harms the national producers of such goods.
Origin:
- autonomous- duties imposed on the basis of unilateral decisions of the state authorities of the country;
- conventional (contractual)- duties established on the basis of a bilateral or multilateral agreement such as the GATT or a customs union agreement;
- preferential- duties with lower rates compared to the customary customs tariff, which are imposed on the basis of multilateral agreements on goods originating from developing countries. Their goal is to support the economic development of these countries by expanding their exports.
By types of bets:
- permanent- customs tariff, the rates of which are set at a time by state authorities and cannot be changed depending on the circumstances. The vast majority of countries in the world have tariffs at constant rates;
- variables- a customs tariff, the rates of which can be changed in cases established by state authorities (when the level of world or domestic prices, the level of state subsidies changes). They are rarely used, for example, in Western Europe within the framework of a single agricultural policy.
By calculation method:
- nominal- tariff rates specified in the customs tariff. They can only give a very general idea of the level of customs duties to which a country is subject to its imports and exports;
- effective- the real level of customs duties on final goods, calculated taking into account the level of duties imposed on import units and parts of these goods.
Optimal tariff rate- the level of the tariff that maximizes the level of national economic welfare. The optimal tariff has the following main features that must be taken into account when implementing state foreign economic policy:
The optimal tariff rate is always positive and is in the range between 0 and the prohibitive tariff rate;
It is always relatively small and inversely proportional to the elasticity of imports;
An optimal tariff leads to economic gain for one country, but losses to the international economy as a whole.
tariff quota . This is a kind of variable customs duties, the rates of which depend on the volume of imports of goods: when imported within certain quantities, it is taxed at the base intra-quota tariff rate, and when a certain volume is exceeded, imports are taxed at a higher over-quota rate.
In addition to the tariff methods of state regulation of international trade, governments widely use non-tariff methods - quantitative, hidden and financial. Most of them, in contrast to customs tariffs, are poorly quantifiable and therefore poorly reflected in statistics. It is this characteristic of non-tariff methods that enables governments to use some or any combination of them to achieve their trade policy objectives.
One of the following indices is commonly used to measure non-tariff methods:
- frequency index- an index showing the share of tariff lines covered by non-tariff restrictions;
- trade coverage index- shows the value share of exports or imports covered by non-tariff restrictions.
- price impact index- the ratio of the world market price to the domestic price of a product, the import or export of which is subject to non-tariff restrictions.
The government is more likely to give preference to non-tariff methods because politically they are considered more acceptable because they do not constitute an additional tax burden on the population. In addition, they are more convenient for achieving the desired result. Finally, non-tariff restrictions are almost not regulated by international agreements, and using them, governments feel freer than when introducing tariff restrictions, which are regulated by the WTO.
Quantitative restrictions- the administrative form of non-tariff state regulation of trade turnover, which determines the quantity and range of goods allowed for export or import. They can be applied by the decision of the government of one country or on the basis of agreements coordinating trade in a particular product.
character.
Quota- a quantitative non-tariff measure of limiting the export or import of goods to a certain quantity or amount for a certain period of time. By focus their action quotas are divided into:
Export - introduced either in accordance with international stabilization agreements that establish the share of each country in the total export of a certain product, or by the government of the country to prevent the export of goods that are in short supply on the domestic market;
Imported - introduced by the national government to protect local producers, achieve a balanced trade balance, regulate supply and demand in the domestic market, as well as in response to discriminatory trade policies of other states.
By coverage quotas are divided into:
Global - set to export and import a specific product for a certain period of time, regardless of which country it is exported from. Their meaning is to ensure the required level of domestic consumption;
Individual - the quota set within the global quota for each country exporting or importing a product. They are established on the basis of bilateral agreements that give the main advantages in export or import to those countries with which there are close mutual political, economic or other interests.
Closely related to quotas is another type of state regulation of foreign economic activity, called licensing. Licensing - regulation of foreign economic activity through permits issued by government agencies for the export or import of goods in established quantities for a certain period of time. It can be an integral part of the quota process or be an independent regulatory instrument. In the first case, the license is only a document confirming the right to import or export goods within the received quota. In the second case the license takes on a number of specific forms (one-time, general, global, automatic). Licenses are distributed using the following mechanisms:
Auction, which is considered the most cost-effective way of distributing licenses, capable of generating revenue for the state treasury comparable to the revenue from customs duties on the same product;
The system of explicit preferences - the government assigning licenses to certain firms in proportion to the volume of their imports for the previous period or in proportion to the structure of demand among national importers;
Licensing on a non-price basis - licenses issued by the government to firms that have demonstrated their ability to export or import in the most efficient manner.
A quantitative restriction on imports into a country can be achieved not only through the actions of its government to introduce an import tariff or import quotas, but also as a result of measures taken by the government of the exporting country within the framework of the so-called. "voluntary" export restrictions. "Voluntary" export restrictions- quantitative restriction of exports based on the obligation of one of the trading partners to limit or at least not to expand the volume of exports, adopted in the framework of a formal intergovernmental or informal agreement on the establishment of quotas for the export of goods
Technical barriers - hidden methods of trade policy arising from the fact that national technical, administrative and other rules and regulations are structured in such a way as to discourage the import of goods from abroad. The most common technical barriers are requirements for compliance with national standards, for obtaining quality certificates for imported products, for specific packaging and labeling of goods, for compliance with certain sanitary standards, including environmental protection measures, for compliance with complicated customs formalities and requirements of laws on protection consumers and more.
Internal taxes and fees - hidden methods of trade policy aimed at increasing the domestic price of imported goods and thereby reducing its competitiveness in the domestic market.
Public procurement policy - a covert method of trade policy that requires governments and businesses to buy certain goods only from domestic firms, even though.
Local content requirement- a hidden method of trade policy of the state, legislatively establishing the share of the final product that must be produced by national producers, if such a product is intended for sale on the domestic market. Developing countries use this method as part of their import substitution policy, while developed countries use this method to maintain the level of employment.
Financial methods of trade policy. If the government considers it necessary to stimulate the export of national producers, then it can in one form or another provide them with subsidies from the budget.
Subsidies - cash payments aimed at supporting national producers and indirectly discriminating against imports. By the nature of payments they are divided into:
- straight - direct payments to the exporter after the export operation by him in the amount of the difference between his costs and the income he received. Since the beginning of the 60s, they have been used for the export of ships, aircraft and other expensive industrial export goods. Now prohibited by WTO rules;
- indirect hidden subsidies for exporters through the provision of tax incentives, preferential insurance terms, loans at a rate below market rates, refund of import duties, etc .;
Internal subsidy - the most disguised financial method of trade policy and discrimination against imports, providing for budgetary financing of the production of goods that compete with imported goods within the country.
Export subsidy - a financial non-tariff method of trade policy, which provides for budgetary payments to national exporters, which allows selling goods to foreign buyers at a lower price than in the domestic market, and thereby boosting exports. The fundamental difference between import tariffs and export subsidies as a means of trade policy is that the former leads to an increase in the domestic price of imported goods, while the latter leads to an increase in the domestic price of exported goods.
Export lending- a method of financial non-tariff foreign trade policy, which provides for financial incentives by the state to develop exports by national firms. It can take the form:
Subsidizing loans to national exporters - loans issued by state-owned banks at below market interest rates;
State loans to foreign importers with the obligatory condition of purchasing goods only from firms in the country that provided such a loan (tied loan);
Insurance of export risks of national exporters, which include commercial and political risks;
Export credits are:
Short-term and - for up to 1 year, used to finance the export of consumer goods and raw materials;
Medium-term - for a period of 1 to 5 years, used for crediting the export of machinery and equipment;
Long-term - for a period of more than 5 years, are used to finance the export of investment goods and large projects.
Subsidizing exports for the purpose of speeding them up in the face of heightened competition can take extreme forms aimed at suppressing competitors and ousting them from the market.
Dumping - a method of financial non-tariff trade policy, which consists in promoting goods to the external market by reducing export prices below the normal price level existing in these countries. It can take one of the following forms:
Sporadic dumping is an episodic sale of surplus stocks of goods to the external market at low prices. It occurs when the domestic production of a product exceeds the capacity of the domestic market;
Intentional dumping is a temporary deliberate reduction in export prices in order to oust competitors from the market and subsequently establish monopoly prices.
Permanent dumping is the constant export of goods at a price below the fair value.
Reverse dumping is an overstatement of export prices in comparison with the selling prices of the same goods on the domestic market.
Mutual dumping is countertrade of two countries in the same product at reduced prices.
The prerequisites for dumping are:
Differences in the elasticity of demand for a product in different countries - domestic demand should be less price elastic than demand abroad;
A situation of imperfect competition that would allow the manufacturer to set and dictate prices;
Market segmentation, i.e. the ability of the producer to isolate the domestic market, where he sells goods at high prices, from the external market, where he does it at lower prices.
Dumping is prohibited both by international rules within the WTO and by national anti-dumping duties in case of detection of the fact of dumping. The latter is understood as a temporary levy in the amount of the difference between the selling prices of goods in the domestic and foreign markets, introduced by the importing country in order to neutralize the negative consequences of unfair price competition based on dumping.
16. International trade, its structure and dynamics
INTERNATIONAL TRADE - the totality of trade relations, foreign trade relations of all countries of the world that trade with each other.
The need for the emergence and development of a system of relations for the international exchange of goods and services is due to many reasons. Virtually no country has the amount and range of resources necessary to fully meet the entire system of needs. Each country has a limited amount of labor and capital that allows it to produce various goods that make up GDP. If there are the best conditions for the production of a product in the country and the costs are minimal, then by increasing its production and selling it abroad, you can buy goods that cannot be produced domestically or whose production is too expensive. That's why reasons for the existence of foreign trade relations , and consequently, the modern world market always remains the international division of labor and the mutually beneficial exchange.
The modern world market is a sphere of stable commodity-money relations for the exchange of produced national products. The subjects of these relations can be states, individual organizations and enterprises, as well as individuals. As well as inside the country, in the structure of the world market one can distinguish markets for goods and services, labor markets, capital markets, and, in addition, markets for the achievements of science and technology. As part of the latter, information markets are becoming increasingly important in modern conditions. In addition, individual markets can be distinguished by regional basis - European, Asian, South American, Far Eastern, etc.
In order for a country to be able to trade on the world market, it needs to have export resources, i.e. stocks of competitive goods and services that are in demand on the world market, currency funds or other means of payment for imports, as well as a developed foreign trade infrastructure- vehicles, warehouses, communication facilities, etc. Settlements for foreign trade operations are made by banking organizations, and the country's insurance business insures transportation and cargo. Of course, if necessary, you can use the infrastructure services of other countries, but, as a rule, they are very expensive, and each state involved in the world market seeks to create its own infrastructure.
Two counter flows of goods and services form the exports and imports of each country Export is the sale and export of goods abroad, import - it is the purchase and import of goods from abroad. The difference between the value estimates of exports and imports is trade balance, and the sum of their estimates is foreign trade turnover .
In the world market, as in any other, supply and demand are formed and the desire for market equilibrium is maintained. In order to understand how this happens, consider a conditional example. Suppose two countries produce and consume the same product, but the resources for its production and the need for it are different.
The world market is always balancing supply and demand for - exported and imported goods, and world price is between the minimum and maximum internal equilibrium prices.
17. International regulation of foreign trade and the World Trade Organization
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT)- adopted in 1948, a multilateral agreement between many countries of the world, containing the rules for concluding intercountry trade contracts and conducting international trade operations. The parties to the agreement provide each other with favorable conditions for mutual trade (most favored nation treatment in trade). The agreement is intended to eliminate unnecessary restrictions and discrimination in foreign trade. In 1995 it was transformed into the WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION.
The Geneva Treaty on Sucking GATT was signed in 1947 by 23 countries and entered into force in 1948. Its main principles are the principles of non-discrimination and liberalization of the terms of international trade.
Countries to belong to the GATT must comply with the provision about most favored nation treatment . This is a condition, enshrined in international trade agreements, providing for the granting by the contracting parties to each other of all the rights, advantages and benefits that any third state enjoys and / or will enjoy. The MFN principle is included in the WTO conditions and is considered the basis for the creation of a non-discriminatory regime in international trade. It means that if a country, say the United States, lowers the customs tariff of one country, for example Australia, from 20 to 10% on woolen sweaters, then the United States makes the same concession to all other countries in the world.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade determined the permissible amounts of customs duties and export subsidies, resolved disputes between countries on mutual trade through intergovernmental multilateral agreements, and brought countries that violated the terms of the agreement to economic responsibility.
The main activity of the GATT is the organization rounds or rounds of negotiations(named according to the place of their holding) on the conclusion of multilateral agreements on the reduction of customs tariffs and the mitigation of non-tariff barriers for their participants. Each round bears the name of the city or state in which the meeting of the participants took place. In total, eight rounds were held, as a result of which the average customs duties were reduced 10 times from 40% in the middle. XX century. up to 4% to the shock of the 90s.
By 1996, about 130 countries were members of the GATT. Since January 1996, the GATT replaced World Trade Organization (WTO). Its founders are 81 countries. The formation of the WTO reflects the specifics of the current stage of development of international trade, when the sphere of WTO regulation extends to the international exchange of services and intellectual property, control and protection of investments.
Trade unions and free trade zones are the initial stages (stages) of the formation of integration associations. The first are based on preferential trade agreements... They are signed either on a bilateral basis between individual states, or between an already existing integration group and a separate country or group of countries. In accordance with them, countries provide more favorable treatment to each other than is provided to third countries. At the same time, no intergovernmental bodies are created to manage preferential agreements.
Examples of trade unions include:
1) "Agreement on cooperation and partnership between the EU and the countries of the former USSR" the member states of which are the EU, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine.
2) Association Agreement with the EU (Eastern European countries - former CMEA members, as well as the Baltic countries).
3) Enterprise for America Initiative (USA, most Latin American and Central American states).
Free trade zones are the second level of integration, which provides not a simple reduction, but a complete abolition of customs tariffs in mutual trade while maintaining national customs tariffs in relations with third countries. In most cases, the terms of the free trade zone apply to all goods except agricultural products. The free trade area can be coordinated by a small interstate secretariat located in one of the member countries. But more often it does without it, coordinating the main parameters of its development at periodic meetings of the heads of the relevant departments.
Examples of free trade zones:
1) European Free Trade Association (Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden)
2) Baltic FTZ (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
3) North American FTZ (Canada, Mexico, USA)
4) Agreement on free trade of ASEAN countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand).
Free trade zones – these are areas not covered by the state customs regime. In particular, in the United States, legislation allowed the creation of free trade zones at each official port of arrival. Free trade zones have become widespread in world practice general and special purpose(specialized)
18. The role of TNCs in international economic relations
transnational corporations- a form of international pooling of capital, in which the parent company, having its branches in many countries, coordinates and integrates their activities. The country in which the head office is located is called the home country. Usually this is the state in which the corporation was originally established. The manager of one of the IBM subsidiaries classified as transnational only those firms that have five characteristics:
1) the firm operates simultaneously in many states (not in 2-3) with different levels of economic development;
2) its foreign branches solve the issues of reconstruction and development, have industrial, trade and service enterprises;
3) executives of the branches - local citizens who are well acquainted with the situation;
4) the governing bodies of the parent company are made up of people of different nationalities;
5) the property of the company belongs to citizens of different countries.
The main goal of TNCs, like any other entrepreneurial structure, is to make a profit. The preference for obtaining it abroad is due to the following circumstances:
Uneven distribution of economic resources, which causes the movement of national production to areas where the availability of resources is higher;
The difference in tastes among consumers from different countries. This creates incentives for their satisfaction by the enterprises of the country, which has great opportunities for this;
The presence of technological advantages for the company of this country over similar industries in other countries, which allows it to transfer the production of obsolete products in the domestic market abroad (where they still retain their novelty);
The effect of positive economies of scale, which determines the creation of enterprises larger than the capacity of the domestic market allows;
the growth of protectionism, forcing them to compete on the basis of the export of capital, not goods.
In accordance with the requirements of scientific and technological progress, changes are taking place in the organizational structure of TNCs, and, first of all, in the geography of location. If in the 40-50s these were mainly developing countries, then in the 70-80s we are talking about industrialized countries with significant scientific and technical potential. Among the economically backward countries, TNCs are attractive for those that have: cheap labor; low taxation; proximity to sources of raw materials; weak government regulation; the possibility of exporting environmentally harmful industries to them; stable political environment, etc. In addition to the geography of location, current trends in the development of TNCs are characterized by the following circumstances:
The growing dependence of the parent company on its external enterprises, i.e. the increasing separation of TNCs from their national soil;
The corresponding growth of transnational banks, which create branches in other countries, are bought there by local credit institutions;
A positive attitude towards TNCs on the part of the countries that host their branches;
Improving the general level of qualifications, culture, education of the collective employee of TNCs;
The new nature of the relationship between parent firms and their subsidiaries, determined by the decentralization of research and development work.
19. International labor migration reasons and directions
Under
Immigration - Emigration - legal illegal (with
scale of disposals -
scale of arrivals -
balance of migration,
gross migration ,
The first massive movement of workers in modern times was the purposeful import of slaves from Africa to the American continent, which was carried out by force.
That. depending on the geographical directions are distinguished external and internal migration of the population... Internal refers to the movement of population between cities and regions of one country, and external - from one country to another. In turn external migration is divided into intercontinental and intracontinental.
In modern conditions, international labor migration is characterized as a natural global socio-economic phenomenon that has deep roots in the economic, social and political spheres. What are the reasons that encourage people to move from one country to another? Guest workers in Russia
First of all, labor migration is associated with the development of large-scale machine production, which predetermined the uneven socio-economic development of different countries.
International labor migration is primarily due to eq onomic reasons The main ones are:
Different levels of economic development in individual countries. The labor force moves from countries with lower gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to countries with higher living standards;
Different degrees of provision of countries with labor resources, which affects the volume of production, differences in the levels of wages. If the country has a surplus of labor resources, this creates an incentive for emigration;
Foreign activities of transnational corporations (TNCs), contributing to the development of international labor migration. In this case, there is a movement of labor resources to jobs in the foreign branches of TNCs;
The presence of unemployment in a country that increases labor migration.
In addition to socio-economic reasons, there are other reasons for population migration:
Political instability of the regimes or flight from political persecution, racial, religious and national discrimination;
Military circumstances - evacuation, re-evacuation, etc .;
Expansion of the international information system, which makes people aware of the broad socio-economic opportunities of other countries;
Development and reduction of the cost of vehicles.
20. Features of modern world labor markets
World labor market - it is a system of economic mechanisms, norms, institutions that ensure the interaction of demand for labor and its supply at the interstate level.
Modern world labor markets have a number of features.
1. Growth in the scale of international labor migration. At the beginning of 1995, there were more than 35 million migrant workers in the world against 3.2 million in 1960.
2. The multidirectional nature of the main flows of labor migration. These are migration to developed countries with market economies from developing countries; cross labor migration within the developed countries of the world; labor migration between developing countries; migration of highly qualified personnel from developed to developing countries.
3. The growth of the share of youth, women and children in the migration process. For example, in Belgium and the Netherlands, the share of young people in the total number of migrants reaches 50%. In other countries, it is also significant and often exceeds the share of young people among the indigenous population. The share of women in labor migration in Western Europe increased from 30% in the 60s to 40-48.3% in 1980.
4. The increase in the length of stay of migrants in the country of employment.
5. Since the 1980s, there has been a slight decrease in the degree of activity of international labor migration, which was associated with the transition to a policy of limiting this process and the deterioration of the economic situation.
6. Migration of scientists, highly qualified specialists from different regions of the world to developed countries with market economies, as well as from these countries to developing countries.
7. Formation of the "black market" of labor in modern centers of attraction of foreign labor. " Black market "labor is a mechanism for using illegal labor migration to increase profits through the use of cheap labor. The scale of illegal migration is significant. For example, in the United States, the total number of clandestine immigrants ranges from 2 to 13 million.
8. Expanding the scale of Russia's participation in international labor migration.
21. Positive and negative results of international labor migration
22. Features of modern international labor migration and its regulation
Migration- Latin word meaning displacement, resettlement. This word denotes the movement of people, animals, capital, chemical elements in the earth's crust, etc. Population migration of interest to us is the movement of people across the borders of certain territories in connection with a change of permanent residence or with a return to it.
Under international labor migration refers to the movement of labor resources between countries and their use outside national borders for a certain time. Since labor is inseparable from a person, it is often talked about labor migration. International labor migration- cross-country movement of the able-bodied population for reasons that do not imply a final change of place of residence.
In recent years, international labor migration has been studied within the framework of the theory of human capital. Differences in the rates of economic growth are associated with its movement between countries.
International labor migration includes migration and emigration flows. Immigration - movement of the working-age population from abroad to a given country. Emigration - movement of the able-bodied population from a given country abroad. This movement is carried out with the aim of the most effective solution to the economic and social problems of immigrants and emigrants. Re-emigration (return emigration)- return of emigrants to permanent residence. From the point of view of compliance with the norms of the legislation in force in the country, a distinction is made between legal labor migration (without violating legal norms) and illegal (with violation of the law).
Various indicators are used to assess the size of labor migration:
scale of disposals - the number of emigrants who left the country for a certain period in order to get a job;
scale of arrivals - the number of immigrants who arrived in the country during a certain period in search of work;
balance of migration, or net migration, is the difference between the number of arrivals and the number of departures in the country in the period under study. The balance can be either positive or negative. It is expressed in relative terms (per 100 or per 1000 inhabitants), as well as in absolute terms;
gross migration , or total migration, is the sum of the number of arrivals and the number of departures in the country, region for a certain period.
Regulation of immigration. Most host countries use selective approach in the regulation of immigration. Its meaning lies in the fact that the state does not prevent the entry of those categories of workers who are needed in a given country, restricting the entry of everyone else. The list of desirable immigrants varies from country to country, but they usually fall into one of the following categories:
Workers who are ready to perform hard, non-prestigious, harmful, dirty and unskilled work for a minimum wage - construction, auxiliary (in repair shops), seasonal (for harvesting in greenhouses), watch (oil drilling), municipal (garbage and sewage collection) workers;
Specialists for new and promising industries - programmers, highly specialized engineers, bank employees;
Representatives of rare professions - diamond cutters, restorers of paintings, doctors practicing non-traditional methods of treatment;
World-renowned specialists - musicians, artists, scientists, athletes, doctors, writers;
Large businessmen relocating their activities to a host country, investing capital and creating new jobs.
23. Features of modern capital migration
International capital migration - one of the characteristic phenomena of the world economy is the movement of capital between countries, including exports, imports and its functioning abroad. Its reasons are interpreted ambiguously by scientists of various directions of economic thought. Approaches to explaining this process evolve with changes in economic conditions, scales, forms, mechanism, and consequences of the international movement of capital.
The international movement of capital is one of the important instruments in the competitive struggle of companies. Capital markets play a critical role in servicing farm restructuring. At the same time, they can contribute to deepening imbalances in the world economy.
Capital Markets Internationalization is primarily associated with the cross-border consolidation of securities markets and, to a lesser extent, markets for direct capital investments, bank loans and deposits.
The leading force in the revitalization of international operations is savings institutionalization process , concentrating them in the hands of non-bank credit institutions. The total assets of the 300 largest American institutional investors rose from 30% of GDP in 1975 to more than 110% of GDP in 1993. Similar asset growth has occurred in other countries. The process of institutionalizing savings contributes to the international diversification of portfolio investments and the internationalization of capital markets.
Starting from the last third of this century, credit markets began to function not as local structures, but as aggregates united by general patterns of development, which allows us to speak of the formation of a global credit and financial system, including the movement of bond, bank loans, portfolio, direct investments, as well as economic help.
25.International financial and credit institutions and their role in international economic relations
The exit of production beyond national borders, the development of the process of internationalization brought credit relations to the international arena. International credit relations mediate the movement of capital through the provision of loans, commodity resources on the terms of urgency, repayment, payment.
Leading sectors the world loan market are the world money market and the world capital market. Institutional framework loan capital markets are intermediaries between lenders and borrowers from different countries. Intermediaries are various credit and financial institutions, such as transnational banks, stock exchanges, etc., which accumulate temporarily free funds from banks, insurance companies, private firms and other economic entities from different countries. Borrowers are government agencies, international organizations, transnational corporations, etc.
The international loan capital market performs the following tasks arising from the functions of credit:
Redistributive function;
The function of saving distribution costs;
The function of accelerating the concentration and centralization of the capital;
The function of lending to states to pay off balance of payments deficits.
In the struggle for financial markets, monetary organizations use credit discrimination and credit blockade. Credit discrimination used when it is necessary to exert political or economic pressure on certain countries or firms.
A tougher measure is credit blockade, i.e. refusal to provide loans to individual countries. Most often, this measure is carried out unofficially through the refusal of loans for various reasons, but sometimes it is formalized in official government documents as an addition to the economic blockade. In particular, the economic blockade of India announced by the United States as a result of the ongoing underground nuclear explosions will entail a credit blockade by the largest American and joint monetary organizations.
Regulation of international credit relations carried out by various intergovernmental organizations.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) created in 1944 to regulate monetary relations and provide assistance to member countries through the provision of foreign currency loans. The capital of the IMF consists of contributions from members, made by subscription, and each country has its own quota, which determines the number of votes to vote, the amount of contributions and the possibility of using the resources of the Fund. Since 1962, the IMF has been using both borrowed funds and funds from permanent or temporary special funds. The IMF pursues a policy of weakening the role of gold in the world monetary system, carries out interstate regulation of exchange rates, helps to remove currency restrictions, coordinates international credit, regulates relations with regard to external debt, monitors the macroeconomic policies of member countries and the development of the world economy. The IMF carries out short-term lending to its member countries in the face of difficulties associated with the deficit of the balance of payments. It provides loans to treasuries, central banks in the form of the sale of foreign currency for the national currency of the borrowing countries. Loans are repaid by repurchasing the national currency for foreign currency.
On The World Bank, which includes the IBRD and International Development Association ( MAP ), engaged in the issuance of concessional loans, was entrusted with the financing of economic development. Whereas the World Bank borrows and lends, the IMF is more of a credit union with resources dedicated to helping member countries in difficult times. Both organizations work closely with each other. In modern conditions, stable economic development is possible only with an effective financial policy. Experience shows that the balance of payments deficit arises not only due to a temporary lack of liquidity, but also due to structural imbalances in the economy, the elimination of which requires long-term financing. Therefore, the IMF and the World Bank are implementing concessional lending programs for developing countries that are carrying out large-scale economic reforms.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) created in 1944 at the same time as the IMF. At first, its activities were aimed at the restoration and development of the economies of European countries, and since the mid-50s, it has stimulated the development of market relations in the newly liberated nation-states and promoted the deepening of integration processes. Its resources are accumulated at the expense of the authorized fund, formed by the subscription of the participating countries to the shares of the IBRD and at the expense of proceeds from the sale of bonded loans. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development specializes in long-term lending to stimulate the economic development of the IBRD member countries. The first loans were presented to finance the economies of Western Europe destroyed during the Second World War. In modern conditions, it lends mainly to developing countries. Loans are provided at a fairly high interest rate, both to state and private enterprises, subject to government guarantees and on terms similar to those of private commercial banks. The main task of this organization is lending to specific objects, among which social ones predominate in recent years. Similar functions are performed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), established in 1990, and regional banks; Inter-American, African, Asian. In addition to these, international monetary and credit relations are served by dozens of other intergovernmental organizations aimed at their development.
26.World capital market pricing principles
Since the export of capital is the movement of money abroad either for the purpose of deriving entrepreneurial profit or for the purpose of obtaining interest, it is customary to distinguish the export of capital in two forms: entrepreneurial and loan ... Export of entrepreneurial capital means investment in the economy of a particular country, i.e. investments for the purpose of making a profit. Export of loan capital- international loans and credits (as a rule, long-term), bringing loan interest to the creditor country. Thus, we can talk about the world capital market, which in turn is part of the world financial market. The latter, like any national market, in addition to the capital market, includes the money market.
The world money market determines the ratio of supply and demand for short-term means of payment. This is, as a rule, an international commercial loan provided for the purchase of goods and payment for services. The world capital market regulates the movement of long-term assets in the form of investments and long-term loans.
Long-term lending- these are loans from banks, the state to buyers of machinery and equipment, as well as loans from foreign governments and individual firms.
Investment financing involves investment in the creation of productive capital abroad. The main subjects of this process are private business and the state.
27. International investment and savings
Most representative private investment . Investors in this case are individuals, banks, insurance, investment companies, etc. Investments are made by them in two forms: portfolio and direct.
Portfolio investments - these are securities that appear in the portfolio of the country that provided capital. These primarily include stocks and bonds placed in large financial centers. In this case, no control is established when purchasing securities.
Direct investments give the investor the right to control management at the borrower's enterprises. In most cases, we are talking primarily about investments from our own funds. Among them:
Investments of companies in their foreign branches and branches;
Investments of citizens of a given country in enterprises created by them for doing business abroad;
Investments of financial groups in foreign companies (in which they hold dominant positions) to ensure their equity participation in their capital.
Since the main thing in the implementation of direct investments is not ownership, but control, insofar as their sign is the presence of dominant positions in management. To determine these positions, the International Monetary Fund put forward three criteria:
Investors owning 50% or more of the voting capital;
Concentration of 25% or more of the capital in the hands of one owner;
The dominant role of foreigners in the practice of determining the policy of the enterprise.
The movement of private investment is characterized by movement in the following directions:
a) between countries with highly developed industries, where there is a movement of portfolio investments;
b) to countries that already have a fairly significant industrial potential (Austria, Canada, South Africa, Brazil. Mexico), where direct investment is more significant than portfolio investment;
c) to countries with underdeveloped economies, but possessing rich raw materials, where only direct capital investments are directed.
Direct investment in modern conditions has a number of characteristic features. First of all, it is necessary to note the increase in direct investment in comparison with other forms of capital movement.
Direct government investment include:
State entrepreneurial activity in foreign territory;
Purchase of shares of private companies for the purpose of their control;
Capital investment in colonial possessions or protectorates.
Source global investments, as well as national ones, are saving... The balance of world investment and savings determines the world equilibrium interest rate. In fact, this is the real interest rate prevailing in the world capital market. At the same time, equality of national investment and savings is not necessary.
Levels of world savings and savings. Savings and savings are inextricably linked. Savings usually precede accumulation and represent the formation of money capital, in which credit institutions play an important role. The global savings rate has changed dramatically over the past three decades. It gradually increased in the 50-60s, in the 70s it sharply increased due to the energy crisis and decreased significantly in the 80s. Calculated on the basis of the purchasing power of currencies, the global savings rate was 23% in 1960-72, 25% in 1973-1980, and 22.5% in 1981-1995. The decline in the share of savings is associated primarily with their reduction in the public sector of industrialized countries. In many industrialized countries, the private sector savings rate remained in the range of 20% in the 60-80s, the public sector savings rate fell from 4% to 1/2% and in recent years has dropped to almost zero. The process of saving developed in the opposite direction in developing countries, where the savings rate increased from 19% in 1970 to 27% in 1996. high growth rates. In the 1990s, the savings rate there dropped significantly.
The accumulation of capital is manifested in an increase in capital investment and production assets. Average annual investment, in the world economy changed according to the dynamics of world savings, with the exception of the 70s. 1950 to 1970 the investment quota grew steadily, reaching almost 27% of GDP in 1973. Then it dropped to 20-22% in 1983, after which it began to grow again, but did not reach the level of the early 1970s. The decline in the accumulation rate in the mid-70s - early 80s occurred in countries where, as a result of the energy crisis, large amounts of labor instruments turned out to be ineffective, despite the fact that they belonged to the models of the late 60s. The cost transfer proved to be difficult due to the drop in capacity utilization. The lack of equipment on the market that would be effective under that system of relative prices became an important reason for the formation of an investment pause in the mid-1970s. In general, changes in the dynamics of world investment were in line with the movement of the economic cycle, they increased during periods of ups and decreased during recessions.
There were other reasons as well. In the world economy in the 1980s, there was an increase in real interest rates. They rose from a low and often negative real value to the highest level in history, which persisted until the late 1980s. The rise in real rates was facilitated by restrictive foreign exchange policies of industrial countries, as well as a huge US federal budget deficit, which was financed by savings from other countries. The high level of real interest rates was not accompanied by an increase in the savings rate. It declined in all industrialized countries in the 1980s.
Changes in the investment quota are affected by price shifts. If the prices of investment goods fall in relation to consumer prices, then more can be invested in real terms with the same level of savings. Since 1973, prices for investment goods have fallen relative to other goods and services, but at the same time, the real amount of capital investment could remain with a decrease in the share of investment costs. Therefore, the size of the investment quota decreases less if measured in constant prices and exchange rates, compared to calculations in current prices. But even in this case, a downward trend was noted in the 1980s.
In the world economy as a whole, the levels of savings and investment are identical.
Sources of savings and savings. At the macro- and, micro- (levels, savings and accumulation are mobilized from various sources of economic entities. These are depreciation and retained earnings of companies. In the structure of accumulation of companies, the share of expenses for replacing consumed fixed capital (depreciation) pretty stable. On average, it accounts for a little more than half of investments, increasing during periods of crises and decreasing during years of economic booms. Net savings generated by retained earnings directly increase the production assets of companies. Firms with poor access to the loan market tend to maintain high retained earnings and pay less dividends. Although companies provide the bulk of capital investment in industrialized countries (50-80%), their net 17% of total capital investment.
Household savings in industrialized countries in the 80-90s decreased. This trend has been driven by a number of factors. In particular, the liberalization of consumer credit has led to a decrease in savings for large purchases. The role of households in saving varies dramatically from country to country. In the second half of the 1980s, they accounted for between 9% of gross investment in Great Britain and 57% in Italy.
Since the late 1980s, there has been an increase in savings of the state , which was determined by a decrease in the need for issuing government loans. A sharp increase in budget deficits occurred in the 70s due to an increase in spending on military purposes, social security, with a simultaneous decrease in business activity and taxation.
In developing countries, domestic savings are also the most important source of replenishment of productive assets, providing over 95% of investment. Domestic savings rates have fallen significantly in countries experiencing difficulties in servicing external debt. Analyzing the trends and structure of savings in developing countries is difficult due to the difficulty of obtaining relevant information on households, business and public sectors.
28.Monetary system and its evolution European and Jamaican monetary systems
European Monetary System (EMU)- the zone of coordinated navigation created by the EU members in relation to the dollar of the exchange rates of national currencies in order to ensure their greater stability. The main parameters of the EBC are:
Limiting currency fluctuations to within 2.25% each way from the agreed central rate of each currency to the ECU;
Creation of a European currency unit - ECU (European Currency Unit) - a unit of account, the rate of which is determined as a weighted average of the rates of the EU member states;
Establishment of the European Monetary Cooperation Fund. It was created through contributions to: provide temporary financial support to EU member states; financing the balance of payments deficit; settlements for foreign exchange interventions of member countries in order to support exchange rates.
The mechanism for regulating exchange rates within the EMU was called "Snake in the tunnel" due to the fact that the courses could only float within a limited range. If the deviation of the exchange rate from the central parity reached 75% of the size established by the agreement, the country had to take a number of measures to prevent the rate of its currency from going beyond the established limits.
In June 1989, the Commission of the European Communities adopted a decision on the transition of European EU member states to a monetary and economic union. This transition was supposed to be carried out in three stages. On the first, which began in July 1990, there was a complete elimination of restrictions on the movement of capital between the EU countries and a gradual convergence of key macroeconomic indicators of their economies began. On the second, which began on the basis of the agreement on the European Union (Maastricht Agreement), which entered into force in November 1993, the member countries took the path of further deepening monetary integration on the basis of an agreement on the convergence of national economies and the creation of a mechanism for multilateral monitoring of this process. Transition to third stage began in 1999 and is associated with the introduction single European currency and education European Central Bank .
The second stage, which lasted from 1993 to 1999, became the key in the movement towards a full monetary union. In this period:
Convergence requirements were introduced - strict indicators of farm convergence in the areas of public finance, long-term interest rates and exchange rates. To qualify for participation in a monetary union, a country must meet the following requirements: the budget deficit must not exceed 3% of GDP, and the gross government debt must not exceed 60% of GDP; consumer price inflation should not exceed inflation in the three member countries with the lowest inflation by more than 1.5 percentage points; interest rates on long-term government debt securities should not exceed by more than 2 percentage points the interest rates in the three member countries with the lowest inflation;
The European Monetary Institute (EMI) was created - an organization of the EU countries responsible for coordinating monetary policy between them, as well as preparing for the creation of the European Central Bank and developing a single monetary policy;
Creation of an oversight mechanism for economic policy, which is formed from the EU Council and the EMI.
The transition to a single currency also includes three stages. First lasted from the moment the participants of the monetary union were determined to the mutual fixation of their exchange rates. After that, the EMU, ECU and other mechanisms were abolished, and their functions were transferred to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), in which the European Central Bank plays the main role. The euro (the single European currency) is used as a non-cash currency. Second phase will last from the moment of fixing exchange rates until the withdrawal from circulation of national currencies, along with which non-cash euros will circulate. Stage Three is due to start no later than January 1, 2002 and will be marked by the issuance of euro in cash in the form of banknotes and coins. The exchange of the ECU for the euro will take place at the 1: 1 rate, i.e. the euro exchange rate against the other currencies of the participating countries will correspond to their exchange rate against the ecu.
29.The concept of the exchange rate and the factors that determine it
30. Regulation of the exchange rate
The formation of the exchange rate of the national currency in a foreign one is called currency quotation. In this case, the rate of the national currency can be set in the form as direct quotation ( 1,10,100 units foreign currency = x units. national currency. Formula Rb 1 = ( x ) $ 1 ), and so reverse quotation ( 1,10,100 units national currency = x units. foreign currency. Formula $ 1 = Rb x (1/ x )). There is also cross-quote- the expression of rates of two currencies to each other through the rate of each of them in relation to a third currency, usually the US dollar.
Exchange rate quotes also have a time dimension. According to this criterion, the following are distinguished: spot rate- the rate at which currencies are exchanged within no more than two working days from the date of agreement on the rate; forward rate- the agreed rate at which currencies are exchanged at a certain point in the future, more than three days after reaching an agreement on the rate.
The comparability of national currencies on a value basis, in fact, expresses the ability to compare the value of various goods produced in different countries, or rather, using the exchange rate, the prices of goods in different countries are compared... As a result, the profitability of buying goods or investing in the economy abroad is determined in comparison with a given country.
The exchange rate depends on many factors, and, first of all, on the demand and supply of foreign currency in the market, therefore, all factors influencing the supply and demand of the currency also affect its exchange rate. These factors include:
High rates of growth of national income in a given country. This will result in an increase in the income of individual citizens, an increase in the aggregate demand for goods, including imported ones, which will lead to an increase in demand for foreign currency and an increase in its exchange rate;
Changes in consumer preferences for imported goods will act in a similar way;
High rates of inflation in the country depreciate the national currency, and its rate begins to decline against the currencies of countries where inflation rates are lower. The negative consequences of this are primarily felt by countries with a large volume of international transactions. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate real exchange rates, those. purchasing power parity, which is the ratio of prices for similar goods and services produced in comparable countries. Weighted aggregate parities of any level are calculated, up to GDP. These calculations make it possible to estimate the GDP adjusted for the standard of living. The IMF sets parities for large zones of the planet According to the PPP theory, the exchange rate changes in accordance with the need to compensate for the difference in the dynamics of price levels in different countries;
The balance of payments of the country also has a certain influence on the exchange rate. If the balance is positive, then the exchange rate of the national currency grows, since foreign debtors buy it much more, and vice versa. Currently, the balance of payments is increasingly influenced by the movement of capital, which also affects the exchange rate;
The movement of capital largely depends on the difference in interest rates in different countries. An increase in the interest rate stimulates the import of capital into the country, and a decrease in the rate makes it necessary to look for the use of free capital abroad, which increases the volatility of the balance of payments. Low interest rates in other countries encourage banks to buy foreign currency from them, increasing its supply. As a result, the exchange rate of the national currency appreciates;
The exchange rate can be influenced by the development of currency speculation, the popularity and confidence in a particular currency, the real terms of international settlements and, of course, the monetary policy of the state.
The exchange rate can be of two types. The first one is freely floating exchange rate, or, as it is also called, free floating. In this case, the state is completely outside the limits of the foreign exchange market, and the rate is set only on the basis of supply and demand of currencies, i.e. it is totally flexible. Usually, a floating exchange rate is considered, which can change in any range, and these limits are not legally established. The following varieties are known:
Adjustable exchange rate - a rate that is automatically changed in accordance with a change in a certain set of economic indicators (used in Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua);
Controlled floating exchange rate - the rate set by the central bank, not the foreign exchange market, but with frequent changes (developed - Norway, Greece, developing - Brazil, Egypt, etc., countries with economies in transition - China, Russia, etc.);
Independently floating exchange rate - a rate determined on the basis of the ratio of supply and demand for currency in the foreign exchange market with the state's non-interference in this process (most industrialized countries, except for the EU, many developing countries and countries with economies in transition).
Another type exists when the state is tough fixes exchange rates . Fixed exchange rate- the officially established ratio between national currencies, allowing a temporary deviation from it in one direction or the other by no more than 2.25%. The course can be recorded in one of the following ways:
Fixing the rate to one currency - pegging the rate of the national currency to the rate of the most significant currencies of international settlements (most countries of Latin America and Africa, as well as some countries with economies in transition, such as Lithuania and Turkmenistan);
Using the currency of other countries as legal tender (the ruble in 1992-94 in the CIS countries, the dollar in Ecuador);
Currency board - fixing the exchange rate of the national currency against the foreign one, and the issue of the national currency is fully secured by the reserves of foreign currency (Argentina, Hong Kong, Singapore);
Fixing the exchange rate of the common currency to one foreign currency (French-speaking African countries to the French franc);
Fixing the exchange rate of the national currency against the currencies of other countries - the main trading partners (Estonia - against the German mark);
Fixing the exchange rate to the currency composite - pegging the national currency rate to the rates of collective currency units, such as SDRs.
Equilibrium exchange rate- the exchange rate that ensures the achievement of an equilibrium of the balance of payments, provided there are no restrictions on international trade, special motives for the inflow or outflow of capital and excessive unemployment. In other words, the balance of payments equilibrium as a result of changes in the exchange rate should be ensured as a result of the action of fundamental economic laws, and not through short-term measures of state economic policy. Thus, the equilibrium balance of payments acts as a key fundamental economic law that is necessary to maintain an equilibrium exchange rate.
If equilibrium is established in the foreign exchange market at point A and the price of 1 yen is Y, then the price can be influenced by increasing or decreasing purchases of the yen. The country's central bank can raise the yen rate by throwing a significant dollar mass into the market and buying up a significant part of the offered yen. In this case, the supply on the market will decrease from S to S1 and the rate will increase. If the yen needs to be depreciated, the Central Bank throws additional yen into the market. Legislative depreciation of the currency or central parity under a fixed exchange rate regime is called devaluation, and the increase is revaluation .
Which of these systems is better, more profitable for the state? It is difficult to answer unequivocally, since the practice of using fixed and flexible exchange rates has shown both the advantages and disadvantages of both. Flexible course often creates fluctuations in exchange rates, which leads to additional difficulties and costs in international economic relations, but, as the practice of its use has shown, in the long run it has the necessary flexibility to ensure normal relations ... Fixed exchange rate good from the point of view of ensuring short-term stability, but in the long run it is inelastic and constrains the development of international relations.
In market conditions, the supply and demand for foreign currency is constantly changing under the influence of a host of factors, which together reflect the change in the country's relative place in the international economy. The exchange rate of the national currency also changes accordingly. Moreover, the economic meaning of a change in the exchange rate under the regime of floating and fixed exchange rates is different.
Depreciation of currency- a decrease in the value of a currency under a floating exchange rate regime. Rise in currency- an increase in the value of a currency under a floating exchange rate regime.
In the case of a fixed exchange rate regime, its adaptation to the changed volumes of supply and demand for foreign currency occurs differently. At the same time, the question of the size of the state's foreign exchange reserves is especially important. They are not unlimited and therefore, if for some reason the demand for foreign currency for a long time exceeds its supply, it is impossible to artificially keep the national currency rate from falling by selling foreign currency from reserves. When the latter decline to less than eight weeks in the volume of imports of goods and services, the question of the utmost importance for the state is to abandon the protection of the fixed exchange rate and switch to a floating exchange rate regime or legislatively reduce the value of its national currency to a level approximately corresponding to market equilibrium.
In this situation, currency speculators playing on the exchange rate difference in the foreign exchange market can outstrip the state, which will inevitably be forced to reduce the value of its currency due to the growing loss of reserves, and begin to actively sell the national currency in exchange for foreign currency, thereby trying to avoid losses. The result is a situation known in international economics as “Speculative attack on currency”. It is understood as a sharp increase in the supply of foreign exchange on the market during a period of weakening of its exchange rate, leading to the loss of the country's foreign exchange reserves in the event of attempts to support the weakening exchange rate.
It is important to consider dependence of prices on the dynamics of the exchange rate... In general, this dependence boils down to the following:
- depreciation of the national currency leads to a decrease in the prices of national goods in the world market, expressed in national currency, which contributes to the growth of exports, which as a result becomes more competitive. At the same time, prices for foreign goods, denominated in national currency, become higher, as a result of which their imports are reduced. As a result of the depreciation of the national currency, national assets and securities denominated in it become cheaper and more attractive for foreign investors, which leads to an increase in capital inflows from abroad.
- growth of the national currency leads to an increase in the prices of national goods in the world market, denominated in foreign currency, which leads to a decrease in their exports, which, as a result, becomes less competitive. At the same time, prices for foreign goods, denominated in national currency, are falling, as a result of which their imports are increasing. As a result of the growth in the exchange rate of the national currency, national assets and securities denominated in it become more expensive relative to foreign ones, which leads to an increase in capital outflow abroad.
The ongoing monetary policy has a certain impact on both the internal position of the country and its position in the world economy. Therefore, in the implementation of reforms in Russia, from the very beginning, much attention was paid to currency relations. The liberalization of the economy led to the organization of the foreign exchange market using the mechanisms of free and controlled floating.
Under these conditions, when the internal conversion of the ruble was carried out, and production showed a progressive tendency to decline, which was accompanied by inflation, the demand for foreign currency rose sharply, and the ruble depreciated. As a result, the profitability of exports increased, while the profitability of imports decreased slightly, which entailed the emergence of additional channels of capital flight abroad. The process of dollarization clearly manifested itself in the national economy, when all savings, both physical and legal, began to be carried out mainly in foreign currency. This, like capital flight, negatively impacted investment opportunities.
The transformation of the American dollar into an almost parallel currency revealed all the shortcomings of the internal conversion of the ruble in the absence of an external one: the Central Bank of Russia had to constantly replenish its foreign exchange reserves to ensure the internal conversion of the ruble and maintain its exchange rate. Funds for this could be obtained only through the export of raw materials and energy resources, which also negatively affected the state of the economy, increased the disproportionality of development.
In 1995, to stabilize the ruble exchange rate and reduce inflation in the country, "currency band". It means the establishment of limits for the fluctuation of the exchange rate, which the state undertakes to maintain.
31.Economic content of the trade balance
32.Balance of payments and factors affecting its condition
trade balance represents the ratio of the value of exports and imports of goods over a period of time. It allows you to analyze the participation of a country in the international division of labor, to determine its place in world trade. Another example is calculated balance on a specific date (balance of international debt and claims). It allows you to get data on the amount of monetary claims and obligations of the country in relation to other countries. The settlement balance is closely related to the trade balance, since the basis for the emergence of claims and obligations in international payment turnover are, in particular, commodity transactions. Analysis of the state of the settlement balance allows us to judge whether the country is an international debtor or an international creditor for the entire range of external settlements.
A special place in the system of balances of international settlements is occupied by payment balance. It is a statistical report on all international transactions of residents of a particular country with non-residents for a certain period of time. It reflects the ratio between the volume of goods and services received by a given country from abroad and provided by it abroad, as well as changes in its financial position in relation to abroad.
Note that the balance of payments deals with flows, not stocks, with changes in real and financial assets and liabilities that occur over the reference period, and not with the total amounts of a country's economic assets and liabilities that exist at a particular point in time.
The balance of payments is compiled in order to fulfill both accounting and analytical tasks, which are closely related to each other. The analysis of the balance of payments allows us to draw conclusions about how effectively the country is able to manage its foreign economic activity, and serves as the basis for making decisions in the field of foreign economic policy.
Methodology for compiling the balance of payments. Fundamental for compiling the balance of payments is double entry method for international transactions... This method is based on the fact that each registered transaction corresponds to a payment in one form or another, and the balance of payments and receipts should converge. The double-entry entry system used to compile the balance of payments means that each transaction is represented by two entries that have the same value. One of them is registered as "credit" and has a positive sign, the other as "debit" with a negative sign, and the sum of their values must equal zero.
In accordance with the principles of constructing the balance of payments of the balance it is always balanced... The concept of negative or positive balance is applicable only to its individual parts. It should be noted that the balance sheet itself a priori cannot have an unambiguous interpretation from the point of view of its impact on the national economy. Depending on the goals of economic policy, both negative and positive balances on individual items can be regarded both positively and negatively.
Usually, within the general balance of payments, the balances of the trade balance, the current account balance, the balance of capital flows and the balance of official settlements are distinguished.
Trade balance is formed as the difference between the export and import of goods only (excluding services). Comments on changes in the trade balance depend on what factors caused the change. For example, if a negative balance was formed as a result of a decrease in exports, then this may indicate a decrease in the competitiveness of the national economy and be considered as a negative phenomenon. But if such a situation was the result of an increase in imports due to the inflow of direct investments into the country, then this can in no way be regarded as a weakening of the national economy.
Balance on current transactions(this is the most frequently mentioned balance) is considered, as a rule, as a reference balance of payments, since it determines the country's need for financing, being at the same time a factor of external economic restrictions in domestic economic policy. A positive current balance of payments means that the country is a net creditor for in relation to other states, and, conversely, the current account deficit means that the country becomes a net debtor, obliged to pay for net imports of goods, services and finance transfers. In fact, a surplus country is investing part of its national savings abroad instead of increasing domestic capital formation.
Capital and finance balance in fact is a mirror image of the current balance, as it shows the financing of the flow of real resources. True, some of this mirroring is usually found in the article "Pure errors and omissions."
Balance sheet of official settlements is the most common definition of the total (final) balance of payments and indicates an increase (decrease) in liquid claims on the country by non-residents or an increase (decrease) in the country's official reserves in foreign liquid assets. Recall that this balance covers all items, except for the item "Reserve assets".
Under the conditions of a system of fixed exchange rates until 1971, great importance was attached to the balance of official settlements, since, for example, its deficit indicated an increase in the country's obligations to other states (or a reduction in reserves), which threatened the stability of exchange rates. The introduction of floating exchange rates eroded the concept of the general balance of payments, and the dynamics of official reserves was not only a consequence of the official balance of payments, but also the cause of changes in flows recorded in other sections of the balance of payments.
The standard balance of payments components are also used to determine the country's international investment position , which is a statistical report on the value of the country's external assets and liabilities at the beginning and end of the reporting period, as well as all those changes that occurred during the reporting period as a result of financial transactions, value and other changes in accumulated assets and liabilities. The main classification groups used to determine the net investment position of a country are external assets and liabilities of residents, the difference between which gives the desired value. The International Investment Position contains information that is important for analyzing the economic condition of a country. The net international investment position of the country characterizes the state and development trends of the country's foreign economic relations with the rest of the world. Depending on whether this position is positive or negative, one can say whether the country is "net creditor" or "net debtor".
There are several main methods of state influence on the state of the balance of payments. Method one- this is direct control, including the regulation of imports (for example, through quantitative restrictions), customs and other fees, a ban or restrictions on the transfer abroad of income from foreign investments and cash transfers of individuals, a sharp reduction in gratuitous assistance, the export of short-term and long-term capital, etc. Such direct control measures are usually very difficult for many firms in the country and, accordingly, are perceived as hostile.
In the short term, direct control has a positive effect (it is more or less depending on the level of compliance by firms with business laws and the government's ability to enforce its decisions). In the long term, the effect of these measures is contradictory, since a "greenhouse regime" is created for local producers, the interest of foreign investors in the country is reduced due to the ban on the transfer of their income, difficulties arise in attracting foreign specialists, and obstacles are created for the expansion of goods abroad. and a service delivery network for domestic exporters.
It does not cause hostility, but on the contrary, such a direct measure as export subsidies is welcomed by domestic firms. But it is expensive, and therefore its use is usually associated with the state of the country's budget. Thus, the state of the state budget of Russia is unlikely to allow it to actively subsidize exports in the near future.
Method two - deflation(i.e., the fight against inflation), which is aimed at solving internal economic problems, while the side effect is an improvement in the state of the balance of payments. It is believed that the traditional consequences for deflationary policy - a decrease in production, investment and income - lead to a decrease in imports and an increase in reserve capacity for increasing exports. An increase in the real interest rate, which is typical for deflation, attracts short-term capital to the country, if, of course, there is a developed banking system and a low level of political risk. However, there is another point of view: deflation decreases exports and increases imports. With deflation, the exchange rate of the national currency rises, which increases the opportunities for importers. For exporters, the high exchange rate of their national currency means that when exchanging export earnings, they receive less national currency, and this does not at all stimulate them to establish exports.
The third method is changes in the exchange rate... Both with a firm and a floating exchange rate, they pass under strong control and influence of the state. So, even in conditions of a floating exchange rate, the state (usually represented by the country's central bank) often seeks to keep these fluctuations within certain limits, focusing on the so-called exchange rate targets in order to avoid strong economic shocks.
Changes in the exchange rate help the government regulate the balance of payments, but it should be borne in mind that the effect of revaluation / devaluation is weakened by the elasticity of exports and imports, as well as the inertia of foreign trade flows. Therefore, the short-, medium- and long-term effects of changes in the exchange rate on the balance of payments differ. Thus, the inertia of foreign trade flows often leads to the fact that in the first months after a strong fall in the national currency rate, the trade balance does not change and even, oddly enough, its deterioration may occur. After all, exporters need time to increase their exports, and importers need time to reduce the number of new contracts. In the meantime, foreign trade flows go under previously concluded contracts, the cost of exports and imports in dollars does not decrease, but in the domestic market the cost of exported goods in rubles remains the same, while the cost of imported goods increases. True, after some time the situation with the trade balance usually changes: exports increase and imports decrease.
2nd floor. XX century. - discussion of the problems of the foundations and prerequisites of scientific knowledge made it possible to expand the problems of the structure of scientific knowledge - the metatheoretical foundations of science, which are of an implicit nature. Polanyi is the concept of implicit premise knowledge.
As the foundations of science - various forms of axiological and worldview structures.
FUNCTIONS - 1) set strategic orientations for scientific knowledge,
2) largely ensure the inclusion of its results in the culture of the corresponding historical era.
BASIC FORMS of metatheoretical foundations of science:
· worldview
· Philosophical principles, paradigms and categories;
General scientific methodological regulations,
· Scientific picture of the world,
Various models of the development of science,
· Style of scientific thinking, etc.
The worldview function of philosophy is considered one of the most important. It reveals the ability of philosophy to act as the basis of a worldview, which is, at the theoretical level, an integral, stable system of views about the world and the laws of its existence, about the phenomena and processes of nature and society that are important for maintaining the life of society and man. The worldview of a person acts as a set of feelings, knowledge and beliefs. A special role in the worldview of a person-scientist is played by ideas about the principles that determine his attitude to the world, society and himself. The ideological attitudes of the scientist are of particular importance in the study of social and humanitarian processes. This can be clearly seen on the example of the economy.
Philosophical problems of economics are currently acquiring special relevance, because in the modern world, global changes are taking place in the field of the world economy, geopolitics and the social and spiritual life of people.
The economic sphere is a complex multifaceted system. It is part of the broader system of society as a whole. Economy is an objective reality with which we constantly deal in everyday life, it is an indispensable attribute of our being. As Hegel noted, it is the economy that is the foundation of civil society. Various aspects of economic life are studied by many sciences. Among them, an important place is occupied by economic theory, economic psychology, philosophy of economics.
Features of socio-economic cognition:
1. The complexity of the object - the diversity and dynamism of economic phenomena
2. The coincidence of the object and the subject in cognition (is objectivity possible?)
3. The influence of the personal subjective factor in cognition (experience, etc.)
4. Situational economy. knowledge
5. Limitations of experiment as a method
The researcher's worldview factors, therefore, play an important role in the study of eq. Processes. Philosophy has a decisive influence on the formation of the ideological foundations of the scientist's thinking.
The philosophy of economics is aimed at comprehending the foundations of economic life, relying on philosophical categories and principles, it identifies the essential aspects of economic phenomena and processes.
Philosophy of economics is a field of knowledge that finds itself in a difficult situation in the modern world. Having become pragmatic, technological - in accordance with the spirit of the times - economic science claims to be an exact discipline, which, in fact, is not. There is a noticeable narrowing of its subject field, at a time when, on the contrary, at a modern turning point in history, a broader humanitarian view of economics as a cultural phenomenon is needed. Today it is required to discuss the economic problems of society in intensive interaction with philosophical and cultural approaches.
The philosophical point of view involves identifying the essence of human behavior and activities in the economic sphere.
The intensification of scientific efforts in the interpretation and solution of economic issues is especially noticeable in the framework of social philosophy. Philosophy of Economics deals with the study of general deep processes in economics, this analysis is carried out on the basis of the achievements of philosophy.
First, we are talking about a philosophical epistemological interpretation of economic knowledge - this is the desire to identify and describe the actually formed structures of economic knowledge and their adequacy to objective realities.
Secondly, philosophy acts as a methodological basis for considering economic problems. Knowledge of the laws and categories of dialectics, as well as the use of forms and methods of cognition developed by modern philosophy, acquire fundamental importance here.
Thirdly, we are talking about the philosophical worldview interpretation of economic knowledge - this is the desire to identify and describe the actually formed structures of economic knowledge and their adequacy to the value attitudes of specific historical time.
These methods, when applied in combination with other methods, are able to help economists in solving complex theoretical and fundamental problems. There is not a single economic theory, the formation of which would have done without the use of philosophical ideas about causality, space, time, etc. Without worldview concepts and principles, the progress of economic science is impossible.
However, the philosophical methodology of economic research is limited not only to dialectical-materialistic approaches, it is also characterized by methodological ideas, value-cultural orientation (M. Weber), and ethical aspects.
In economic science, there are strategies of two research programs - naturalistic and anti-naturalistic. Already in the very construction of an economic theory or economic mathematical model, it should be borne in mind that economics deals with the phenomena of everyday experience. This should broaden her empirical base. Next comes the stage of theoretical research, where the concepts known from everyday experience of dependence appear. And only after that a more complex stage begins - the proof of the possibility of applying this theory to predict real processes in the economy and its applications.
In the main opposing approaches - spontaneous or regulated economics - one can find orientations both towards naturalism and towards culture-centrism. It is quite obvious that the concept of spontaneous economic activity creates more prerequisites for substantiating the natural nature of the economic process and applying positivist approaches to its analysis, as well as mathematical models and methods. It is possible to note the influence of G. Spencer on V. Pareto, who proposed the idea of economic equilibrium. The idea of economic equilibrium was supported by a number of other researchers who turned to the analysis of economic cycles. This created opportunities for mathematical modeling in economics (P. Samuelson, V. Leontiev).
Along with these concepts, among the theories of the uncontrolled economy received spreading marginism based on the subjective theory of values and psychologism. Marginalists (F. Wieser, E. Böhm-Beverk and others) have replaced the labor theory of value of the classical bourgeois political economy, which, from their point of view, does not correspond to the most optimal operating modes of the economic system, with the theory of marginal utility and productivity, designed to rationalize the subjective aspirations of trading partners and any other agents of economic relations. They assumed that the entrepreneur seeks to maximize his income, and the buyer - to acquire the most useful thing. These motives of agents of economic relations seemed so obvious to marginalists that their identification did not require any analysis. Therefore, in these subjectivist concepts, the method of understanding is not used in any developed form.
In view of the inherently abstract interpretation of the interests of individuals, as always, unchanged, marginalists remain within the framework of a naturalistic research program. Since the human factor is always, one way or another, taken into account by social science, those economic concepts that proceed from the historically and psychologically changeable nature of the subject's participation in the process under consideration should be classified as cultural-centric. In this case, it becomes necessary to understand the motives, to identify the historical context of the activity.
However, the named condition for classifying concepts as culture-centered is necessary, but not sufficient. So, in theories that allow for state intervention in the economy, the role of a person, by the very essence of these concepts, is presented to a greater extent. But here, too, naturalistic tendencies are encountered. For example, J. Keynes is looking for an explanation of the unevenness of the economic process in the variability of the psychological motives of the entrepreneur and the buyer. And yet, with all this variability, he finds a "basic psychological law": people increase their consumption with an increase in income, but not in direct proportion to its growth. Therefore, demand depends not so much on the ability to pay as on the psychological propensity to consume and save, the ratio of which is a variable. Keynes's economic concept is aimed at eliminating this variability through measures of state-monopoly regulation (tax, inflationary policies, subsidizing entrepreneurs from the state budget, etc.). In the course of government intervention, the economy undergoes a kind of naturalization by maintaining the proper quantitative ratios of a constant set of factors influencing reproduction.
Along with this naturalistic, albeit artificially constructed, economic model in the theories of the state-regulated capitalist economy, there are (and prevail) culture-centric approaches originating in the historical school of M. Weber, W. Sombart, G. Schmoller.
G. Schmoller set himself the task of analyzing the changing methods of activity of agents of economic relations, taking into account a combination of psychological, geographical, economic and other factors. Non-economic aspects of economic activity were the main subject of his interests. He considered economic changes as a consequence of changes in those contents of mental life that a person manifests in the economy.
W. Sombart denied economic laws and made the nature of economic activity and institutions dependent on place and time. Exploring the cultural paradigms of economics, he tried to discover the motives of economic activity in any society, treating capitalism as a universal phenomenon. The economic system, according to Sombart, is the embodiment of the economic spirit, which has a cultural and creative role. Therefore, economic activity must not only be studied, but understood.
M. Weber, in his more rationalistic theory of economics, strove to transform political economy into a rigorous science capable of understanding at the same time. His "ideal type" turns into a method of discovering the unique aspects inherent in a particular historical situation. By introducing "actual understanding", Weber actually takes a step towards extending this method to natural sciences, which could be fully continued by applying the culture-centric research program to natural science. In economics, Weber is interested in the institutional aspects of economic activity, the relationship between religion, sociology and economics. The development of capitalism, according to the scientist, is based on the development of the "spirit of capitalism", which is influenced by religious ideas.
It should be noted that the basis of any economic research and economics is labor productivity, as an indicator of the efficiency of the use of labor resources (labor factor), measured either by the amount of products in kind or in monetary terms produced by one employee for a certain, fixed time (hour, day, month, year); - or the amount of time spent on the production of a unit of marketable output. In this regard, various ideological directions can be distinguished:
Liberalism
From the beginning of its emergence, this trend has declared itself as a manifestation of bourgeois social thought. The ideas of liberalism were substantiated in the 17th-18th centuries. English philosopher J. Locke and English economist A. Smith. A great contribution to the development of the theory of liberalism was made by outstanding Russian thinkers, specialists in the field of philosophy, history, political science and law B.N. Chicherin, N.M. Korkunov. Representatives of liberalism, comprehending society, its economic, political and spiritual life, the activities of its legal institutions (at the same time, we are talking about the main methodological approaches to the study of social phenomena, including economic, political, etc.), used certain criteria, the main of which was (and is) the idea of human freedom1 - first of all, the freedom of expression by each individual of his views and interests, as well as the freedom of his activities and other civil liberties associated with it. The subject of the research is the state of society from the point of view of the presence or absence of certain economic, political and civil freedoms and finding ways of their fullest realization.
In this regard, the theorists of liberalism are solving the following problems:
Freedom of the individual in society and his personal responsibility for his actions and the results of his activities;
The role of private property as the economic basis of individual freedom and the functioning of the economy;
Conditions for free enterprise and free market relations.
Since the time of A. Smith, liberals traditionally assigned the state the role of a "night watchman" protecting the property of citizens, their rights, order in the country and protecting it from external encroachments
Monetarist theory.
It was created by representatives of the so-called Chicago school, headed by the prominent modern economist Milton Friedman. This theory is theoretically and methodologically based on the idea of a free market and non-interference of the state in the development of the economy. At the same time, M. Friedman and his followers substantiate the idea of the primary role of money circulation and, mainly, monetary transactions in the functioning of a market economy. This will be discussed in more detail below. We only note that the theory of monetarism, based on the concept of self-organization and self-regulation of economic processes and contributing to their study, proves the relevance of the fundamental ideas of liberalism in the study of modern economic phenomena and processes.
Conservatism
This direction of social thought was formed as a reaction to liberal theory and ideology. His predecessors - the English thinkers E. Burke and T. Carlyle, as well as the French thinkers J. de Maistre and L. de Bonald - opposed the ideas of bourgeois individualism to the idea of preserving and developing society as total, i.e. holistic education. Representatives of Russian conservatism K.N. Leontiev and K.P. Pobedonostsev and others. In solving the problems of interaction between society and the individual, which they interpreted as the interaction of the whole and the part, they gave preference to society as an integral organism, in which each person must have the necessary conditions for his existence and development. At the same time, it was pointed out that individuals themselves bear obligations to society aimed at preserving and strengthening it for the general benefit.
Any social phenomena (spiritual, political, economic, etc.) were considered by them in relation to society as an integral social and natural organism. In their opinion, freedom of the individual, his entrepreneurial activity, as well as freedom of speech and other civil liberties, should be supported only if they do not harm society, contribute to its evolution and strengthen it, since these freedoms can be destructive. lead to an unjustified breakdown of traditional social institutions that have formed in the field of politics, economics, morality, and religion.
One of the most significant manifestations of conservatism in the field of economic research in the XX century. the works of the famous English scientist J.M. Keynes, who declared the end of the liberal doctrine of the spontaneous development of the economy, based on unlimited freedom of entrepreneurship and competition and the denial of any government intervention in the economy, due to the complete theoretical and practical inconsistency of this doctrine.
Social Democratic direction
The theoretical origins of this trend go back partly to Marxism, partly to social reformism, neo-Kantianism and other teachings. Soon after the October (1917) Revolution in Russia, the final break between the Social Democrats and the consistent Marxists took place. Nowadays it is an independent and widespread direction in Europe in theory, ideology and politics. The Social Democrats, having long abandoned the idea of eliminating private ownership of the means of production, now advocate the preservation of state, cooperative and private property in society, i.e. for a mixed economy. They are increasingly inclined to recognize the advantages of a free market, although they do not deny the need for partial government influence on economic development. Here they are unanimous, on the one hand, with modern conservatives, and on the other, with modern liberals. For them, the main method of social transformation is not revolution, but reforms. The main goal of theoretical studies of modern social democrats is to identify and substantiate the possibilities of building a society of democratic socialism.
Marxist direction
The founders of this trend are, as you know, the German thinkers K. Marx and F. Engels. Their prominent associates who played a significant role in the spread and further development of Marxism were A. Bebel (Germany), A. Labriola (Italy), G.V. Plekhanov and V.I. Lenin (Russia), Mao Zedong (China), etc.
The initial theoretical and methodological position of Marxism in the study of economic, political and other processes taking place in society is the consideration of society itself as a self-developing social system. Each such historically formed system is viewed as a socio-economic formation, which, on the one hand, appears as a certain social organism developing on the basis of its inherent mode of production, and on the other, as a qualitatively unique stage of the world historical process. The nature and content of social relations in a particular society decisively determine the nature and content of the socio-economic and political processes taking place in it, their social nature.
The leading role in the system of social relations (economic, political, legal, moral, religious, etc.) is assigned to economic relations, the totality of which is characterized as the economic basis of society, over which rises a political, legal and ideological superstructure derived from the economic basis. As the founders of Marxism emphasized, this does not diminish the importance of political or spiritual phenomena in the life of society (on the contrary, their importance is constantly increasing), but it shows that ultimately their nature and content are determined by the economic basis of society.
Lecture plan: 1. The concept of bionomics and its sections. 2. Biology of economics (biology of a social organism). 3. Transfer of information as an object of bioeconomics. 4. Scientific and economic prerequisites for the emergence of bionomics. 5. The place of bionomics in modern science and economics. 6. Economic biology as a branch of bionomics. 7. Applied research areas in economic biology.
Bionomics is: a branch of biology that studies the relationship between living organisms and their external environment; the ergonomics section, which includes behavioral sciences, biomechanics, posture, stretching; "An evolutionary trend in economic science, considering the economy as a self-organizing and self-developing system, which is inherent in all the qualities of living things" (RSIU dictionary); a new direction in economic theory, according to which biological models and methods are applied to economics.
While traditional economics is based on concepts borrowed from classical Newtonian physics, bionomics has emerged from modern evolutionary biology. Where the traditional view sees organizations as machines for producing food, bionomics sees organizations as intelligent social organisms.
This approach allows us to see the economy as a living self-regulating system, which in turn leads to the ability to determine its viability, to study economic diseases and methods of their treatment. Thus, new methods are introduced for studying economic systems and assessing their quality.
The founder of bionomics as a direction in economics is Michael Rothschild. In his book Bionomics: Economics as an Ecosystem (1990), he defined the essence of bionomics: drawing broad analogies between biological evolution and economics, and applying the idea of natural selection to economic processes. In this case, the properties allocated by evolution are inherited and accumulated.
Following the example of biology, bionomics prioritizes information transfer processes. “Genetic information ... is the foundation of all organic life. Technical information ... is the source of all economic life. ... genetic variability and natural selection - two phenomena similar to technical innovation and market competition - generate a pulsating rhythm of evolutionary change "(M. Rothschild)
Various factors, including the informatization of the economy, the sharply increased cost of knowledge, the ease of movement of capital across state borders, a change in views on the nature of a stable and unstable relationship of order and chaos, and many others have created the prerequisites for the emergence of bionomics.
To date, many scientific papers have been written on bionomics. For example, one of the schools of this discipline is represented by Igor Flor ("Bionomics: Analysis Based on Bioeconomic Analogies" (2005), "Biological Approach to the Management of Economic Systems" (2006)).
Photo: Founders of modern bionomics, Michael Rothschild (USA) (left) and Igor Flor (Russia) (right), Moscow, 2007. Photo: Founders of modern bionomics, Michael Rothschild (USA) (left) and Igor Flor (Russia) (right), Moscow, 2007.
Opportunities for the explosive development of this direction of the economy have recently appeared, firstly, thanks to the unprecedented development of the biological sciences themselves; secondly, thanks to the development of information technology, nanotechnology and the so-called "green" chemistry. Together, bioinformation and nanotechnology are now forming the basis of a new civilization, the so-called sixth technological order.
The use of biotechnology gives humanity the opportunity to solve four main problems: food supply; quality of health care; environmental degradation; problems associated with depletion, depletion of energy, raw materials and other resources.
Bionomics is still in its infancy. Despite the huge difference that exists between traditional economics and bionomics, opposing them is incorrect and even dangerous, just as it is impossible to oppose biology to physics: these disciplines should not contradict, but mutually complement and enrich each other.
Biologists have proven that human anthropometry, including height, is more than 80% determined by genetic factors and only to a small extent depends on the quality of life, or the biological status of the individual. But since the genetic factor is practically unchanged, the variability of growth - individual or average in social groups, classes and entire populations - is determined solely by the quality of life.
The average height of a modern 20-year-old resident of St. Petersburg is 178 cm, a female resident is cm. If you create living conditions in St. Petersburg, as in Sweden or Norway, then the height of men will gradually increase to cm, and women - up to cm.
The potential inherent in human genes is fully realized only in favorable conditions, and, conversely, with prolonged and severe deprivation, growth retardation occurs, which can be compensated for by a more rapid increase in body length during favorable periods. Hence it follows: tall people generally ate better, had better care, were less sick, etc., that is, they generally had a higher biological status than people of short stature.
Biological status is not synonymous with wealth or standard of living. But it is largely determined by income, which makes it possible to draw conclusions about the well-being of the people, the national income of a country by changing the average body length of its citizens. In underdeveloped countries, where maintaining biological status absorbs a large share of the population's income, the relationship between wealth and biological status is closer. On the contrary, in developed countries, where a smaller share of the population's income is spent on maintaining biological status, the relationship is weaker.
First, in relation to the overwhelming majority of countries until the middle of the 19th century. it is impossible to operate with traditional indicators of well-being due to the lack of reliable data. Slightly better is the situation with statistical sources in subsequent periods; Secondly, anthropometric data allow us to look at the position of people from a new perspective: to assess their biological status, the balance between energy consumption and expenditure; Thirdly, anthropometric information is universal and elementary, it is easier to compare them, even if they refer to different years, to different social groups or countries, they do not need adjustments for inflation and consumption patterns.
Alexander Nikolaevich Kostenko,
professor (Kiev)
Mother Nature is the Supreme Lawgiver
for all things for all time
INTRODUCTION
What is happening in the world today begs the question: is this evidence of progress or regression of modern civilization? The most dramatic is that every day it becomes harder to distinguish between good and evil, truth and untruth, beauty and ugliness, justice and injustice, heroism and crime, good people and bad, entrepreneurship and pseudo-entrepreneurship, freedom and willfulness, reality and illusion, order and anarchy, law and wrong, democracy and pseudo-democracy, morality and immorality, and so on. Same-sex marriage is equated with marriage between men and women, political fraud is cynically called innocent "political technology", the exploitation of biological properties (instincts) of a person in literature, music and television are replacing real art, mysticism is trying to "correct" reality and the like. And all this in modern societies is disguised under the guise of progress.
Willfulness and illusion will strike more and more people, manifesting itself in all areas of human life in the form of immorality, crime, extremism, mysticism, voluntarism, utopianism, obscurantism and the like. It is getting harder and harder for people to understand each other. Abuse, that is, the use for the creation of evil of the means that exist for the creation of good, becomes the norm of life. Bad people live in better prosperity than good people. On closer inspection, you can see that these are all symptoms of a crisis of a social order in which people cannot live happily ...
It seems that all this and much more like this are signs not of social progress, but of social regression. Humanity must muster the courage to admit this, because only then will it turn to the Newest Enlightenment, which will lead it onto the path of social progress, as it was, in particular, in the 17th - 18th centuries.
It is thanks to the Newest Enlightenment, which will promote progressive social ideas obtained by science, that a new social order should be formed that can become the basis for a new life for people.
To form a new social order in society, a new social science is needed that would illuminate the path to
The following theses can serve to search for confirmation of this hypothesis:
Thesis 1.
Today there are enough symptoms that indicate a crisis of social order in the world.
In particular, K. Jaspers, E. Fromm, F. Hayek, Jose Ortega y Gasset, F. Fukuyama, S. Kapitsa, religious leaders and others pointed to the sharpening of the problems of modern social life of people. The challenge for civilization today has become the problem of the relationship between human freedom and security, on the solution of which the concept of a new social order in the context of globalization depends. In particular, the modern concept of human rights leads to liberalism “without limits”, which destroys the social order ..
Thesis 2.
Social willfulness and social illusions, which consist in ignoring the natural laws of people's social life, give rise to any social crisis
The cause of any social crisis is the defeat of people by social willfulness and social illusions, which in particular manifests itself in the form of ignoring the natural laws of people's social life, including ignoring the laws of natural (natural) law. This is what gives rise to social crises. Legal willfulness and legal illusions (a kind of social willfulness and social illusions), which consist in the recognition of the source of the right exclusively by the will and consciousness of people, become dominant in public life when this life is not consistent with the laws of social nature, in particular under totalitarianism or criminalism , which replaces totalitarianism on the way to democracy. Legal willfulness and legal illusions are a symptom of social regression, and naturalistic social science is a means of eliminating this pathology.
Thesis 3.
To overcome the crisis of the social order and enter the path of social progress, a new social theory is needed
Modern social science cannot solve the problems associated with the crisis of the social order. In particular, this concerns the problem of whether there is exploitation of man by man in the world community today? If so, is it a social norm or a social pathology? And if this is a social pathology, then how should it be treated - by means of revolution, as K. Marx suggested, or is there another way? New scientific tools are needed to answer these and other questions. A new social science capable of discovering the natural (natural) laws of social life of people, which are ignored by those who limit themselves to social voluntarism and social utopianism, is called upon to contribute to overcoming the crisis in modern social life. Scientific research, including social research, is impossible without the use of a certain theory, which has its purpose to discover patterns that are inaccessible to direct perception. A crisis in practice is always a consequence of a crisis in theory. The better the theory a researcher uses, the more practical the result of his research will be. Knowledge without theory is "blind." A researcher who has no theory for his scientific research is a “headless horseman”. Only with the help of a new theory can the crisis of modern social science be overcome.
Thesis 4.
A new social doctrine can be productive if it is based on the principle of the naturalness of the social (the principle of social naturalism), which is the result of the development of the ideas of Enlightenment
The way out of the crisis in the social life of people should be carried out by basing this life on a doctrine that would eliminate social willfulness and social illusions. Such a doctrine can be developed on the basis of the theory of social naturalism, which is the result of the development, in particular, of the ideas of the Stoics, ideologists of the Enlightenment era, Emile Durkheim, F. Hayek and other thinkers. To overcome the crisis of jurisprudence, which is a "concentrated expression" of the social sciences, it is also relevant to turn to the ideas of naturalist lawyers of the past: Cicero, Hugo Grotius, Puffendorf, Locke, Radbruch and others. The theory of social naturalism is based on the principle of the naturalness of the social, which consists in the interpretation of social phenomena as those that should exist according to natural laws (laws of social nature), acting through the will and consciousness of people.
Thesis 5.
To create a productive doctrine of social science, it is necessary, proceeding from the idea of the natural integrity of the world, to solve the problem No. 1 of modern civilization, which is formulated as follows: "Is the social natural?"
Problem No. 1 of modern civilization, on the solution of which the solution of all other problems depends, can be formulated as follows: “Is the social natural? Or, in other words, what is the social role of human will and consciousness in the world that exists according to the laws of Mother Nature? " Proceeding from the idea of the natural integrity of the world, as well as from the idea of V.I. Vernadsky about the “planetary meaning of mind”, the following solution to this problem is proposed: “Social phenomena are no less natural than physical and biological ones, and the social role of human will and consciousness is in adapting human life to the laws of Mother Nature! " This is the basis for the theory of social naturalism. Social naturalism does not lead to reductionism, that is, it does not mean physicalization or biologization of social phenomena, because social nature is not reduced to physical or biological nature. Social nature is recognized as the third (next to the other two - physical and biological), an independent form of nature, genetically related to physical and biological nature, but such that it exists according to its own laws of nature that are unique to it. The theory of social naturalism consists in recognizing the social as natural in accordance with the idea of the natural integrity of the world, which means that nothing in the world can exist outside the laws of Mother Nature, including social phenomena that are generated by the will and consciousness of people. Any other idea should be qualified as voluntarism and utopianism, that is, such that it recognizes the will and consciousness of people who may be in a state of willfulness and illusion as the source of laws for social phenomena. Any social evil is a manifestation of a complex of self-will and illusion, which strikes people as a result of the inconsistency of their will and consciousness with the natural laws inherent in the social life of people. According to the theory of social naturalism, the dichotomy “nature and society” is erroneous, because society is also nature. The following proposition follows from this theory: "Mother Nature is the Supreme Lawgiver for all that exists for all time." Only Mother Nature can provide criteria for distinguishing between good and evil, justice and injustice, right and wrong, truth and untruth, beauty and ugliness, entrepreneurship and pseudo-entrepreneurship, and so on. A new sociology, which can be called "naturalistic" sociology, must be consistent with this provision. The transformation of modern social sciences into natural (natural) sciences is possible if the social sciences are based on the principle of the naturalness of the social, that is, on the principle of social naturalism. (This approach is described in more detail, in particular, in the book: Kostenko A.N. Culture and law - in counteracting evil. - Kiev: Atika, 2008. - 352 p. (In Ukrainian); Kostenko A.N. civilization (in the Ukrainian cotext) .- Cherkassy. - 2008. - 112 p. (in Ukrainian)).
Thesis 6.
Social science will be able to ensure social progress if it becomes a natural (natural) science - a branch of natural science, that is, it will be aimed at understanding the laws of nature, according to which social life of people exists (laws of social nature)
The need to use the achievements of the social sciences in ensuring social progress is indicated, in particular, in the Declaration of Social Progress and Development, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1969. However, modern social science is not yet being used properly for social progress. If we explain the position of the noted Delaration in the light of naturalistic theory, then social progress should be understood as political, economic, legal, moral progress as progress in adapting people's lives to the laws of social nature. Therefore, social progress is not possible without the development of social sciences, which would be able to discover new laws of social nature for politics, economics, law, morality and other areas of people's social life. From the theory of social naturalism, it follows that all sciences should be recognized as natural - there can be no non-natural sciences. This also applies to the sciences of social phenomena - the social sciences, as well as jurisprudence, which is a "concentrated expression" of the social (and humanitarian) sciences. Therefore, jurisprudence must become "naturalistic" jurisprudence, like social science in general. They must learn the natural laws of human life, according to which there are social and legal phenomena. "Naturalistic" jurisprudence is designed to contribute to the formation of the consistency of the will and consciousness of people with the laws of natural (natural) law, thus contributing to the formation of what is called human legal culture. The legal culture of people, which is understood in this way, is higher than any constitutions, codes and laws - it determines their action as tools in ensuring law and order in society. Hence the formula: "Culture is the mother of order!" In accordance with this formula, the basis of the social order and the social state is the social culture of citizens. And if this is so, then the fate of peoples is determined not by parties, governments and parliaments, but by universities, which form the social, that is, legal, as well as economic, political, moral culture of citizens. It follows from the principle of social naturalism that the life of people is determined by the measure of the consistency of their will and consciousness with the natural laws according to which human society exists. We call this coherence the social culture of people, including in it, in particular, the political, economic, legal, moral culture of people. There is the following pattern: "what culture of people - such is their life." This position can be the basis for a branch of science called social culturology, which studies the laws of the existence of the social culture of people. The crisis of the social culture of citizens leads to a crisis of public life, which manifests itself, in particular, in the fact that the rule of law turns into a pseudo-legal state, human rights - into pseudo-human rights, democracy - into pseudo-democracy, equality of people - into pseudo-equality (into social equalization) , entrepreneurship - into pseudo-entrepreneurship (that is, into the exploitation of man by man), religion - into pseudo-religion, morality - into pseudo-morality, art - into pseudo-art, social (social) progress - into pseudo-progress, and the like. Now there is a crisis in the world in the field of law, which consists in the fact that the hypertrophy of the role of legislation in public life due to the atrophy of the legal culture of citizens gives rise to the prosperity of pharisaism, Jesuitism, and corruption. It is “naturalistic” jurisprudence that is able to propose how to eliminate this, namely: using the formula “legal culture of citizens plus legislation”, that is, eliminating the hypertrophy of legislation and atrophy of the legal culture of citizens. Based on "naturalistic" jurisprudence, the doctrine of human rights allows to get rid of the so-called "liberalism without limits", replacing it with the concept of liberalism, limited by "natural obligations". "Naturalistic" jurisprudence reveals the "stone that the builders neglected," namely the "natural duties" of man, which must correspond to the "natural rights" of man. According to the laws of social nature, people are endowed not only with "natural rights", but also with the corresponding "natural obligations", which should determine the limits of freedom of human behavior in the concept of liberalism. Consequently, the naturalistic concept of liberalism should be based on the formula: "natural human rights plus natural human responsibilities." Obviously, only such a "naturalistic" concept of liberalism can contribute to social progress. It makes it possible to dissociate oneself from the so-called “wild” liberalism, which, being a violation of the unity of “natural rights” and “natural obligations,” is a manifestation of the boundless freedom of people, giving rise to social crises. "Wild" liberalism turns, in particular, democracy into pseudo-democracy, the signs of which we have in many countries.
Thesis 7.
Based on the principle of social naturalism, "naturalistic" social science opens the way to a new social worldview, which is based on a new solution to the "fundamental question of sociology"
"Naturalistic" social science, which is founded on the principle of social naturalism, provides grounds for a new solution to the "fundamental question of sociology", which is formulated as follows: "Society is the creation of Mother Nature or the will and consciousness of People, or both?" ... This new solution has the form of a representation, according to which: a) “Society is a product of the implementation by people of the laws of those natural laws that Mother Nature gives for the social life of people; b) “Any violation of social order (in particular, law and order, as a“ concentrated expression ”of social order, is a manifestation of a complex of arbitrariness and human illusions in the form of violation of the laws of social nature (including the laws of“ natural law ”embodied in current legislation”); c) “The social order is a state that is formed as a result of the application by people in accordance with their social (including legal) culture of the laws of social nature (including the application of the current legislation, in which the laws of“ natural law ”are embodied); d) “Legislation is only a tool in the hands of people, which is applied in accordance with their social culture, and not a self-acting factor in ensuring social order (and law and order). The social representation is noted as fully suitable for use both in theory and in practice of all branches of public life of people: in economics, politics, right, morality, and the like. Only with the help of the "naturalistic" theory of social phenomena can adequate answers be given, for example, to the following questions: the exploitation of man by man is natural or unnatural; what is the difference between democracy and pseudo-democracy; same-sex marriage is a social norm or social pathology; how to distinguish equality between men and women from egalitarianism; whether the division of people into the elite and the mass is unnatural and others. In particular, in accordance with "naturalistic" sociology, the progress of society can occur only when society is naturally divided into the elite and the mass - this is the natural law of people's social life. It should establish a social order that ensures the progress of society, and not on the willful social leveling of people, which leads to a regression of society. As for the exploitation of man by man, according to "naturalistic" sociology, it takes place in the world today, but opposition to it should not take place in an unnatural way, that is, not arbitrarily, as K. Marx - by means of revolution, but in a natural way, that is, by promoting the development of fair competition, which tends to supplant exploitation.
Thesis 8.
The theory of "naturalistic" social science differs from other social theories in that it is the application of the principle of social naturalism to the interpretation of social phenomena.
"Naturalistic" sociology differs from other social theories (theological, positivist, historical, anthropological, psychological, realistic, postmodern, etc.) in that it is established on the principle of social naturalism, according to which society with all its attributes (including politics, religion, economics, law, morality, art, and the like) must be recognized as "third nature", next to two others: physical nature ("first nature") and biological nature ("second nature"). Therefore, jurisprudence (like all social and humanitarian sciences) will become a real science when it receives the status of natural science (natural history), like physics and biology. The artificial division between the so-called natural sciences and social sciences (humanities) must be eliminated. Only in this case will the social (and humanitarian) sciences become really sciences, discovering the laws of social nature in the same way as the laws of physical and biological nature are being discovered today. Then in the social sciences, including in jurisprudence, it will be possible to discover the laws of social nature (in particular, the laws of natural (natural) law), as in physics and biology of physical and biological laws. (By the way, the concept of "law", which is now used in natural science, was first created in jurisprudence and transferred to natural science by the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander.)
Thesis 9.
The role of "naturalistic" social science is that it helps to overcome social willfulness and social illusions, which are the source of the crisis of the social order and lead to social regression, proposing the formula "Culture is the mother of order!" sciences
In accordance with the theory of social naturalism, not a single President, Government, Parliament or political parties and other institutions of "civil society" can lead society on the path of progress without the decisive role of citizens armed with a social (economic, political, legal , moral) culture. The value of the theory of social naturalism lies in the fact that it contributes to the development of social culture of people, which is capable of forming immunity against social willfulness and social illusions in society, including legal willfulness and legal illusions. These willfulness and illusions are the source of the crisis of the social order, and in particular the crisis of the rule of law. The social culture of citizens consists in the unity of "natural (natural) rights" and "natural (natural) duties", which eliminates the so-called "wild" liberalism as a form of abuse of freedom, and hence rights. This is the foundation of a "naturalistic" social science, which has as its purpose the counteraction of social willfulness and social illusions, which are the source of the crisis of the social (that is, economic, political, legal, moral) order. In accordance with the "naturalistic" social science, a new doctrine of ensuring social (economic, political, legal, moral) order is proposed, which consists in the formula: "social culture of citizens plus legislation." As the experience of mankind shows, there is the following pattern: the progress of social life favorable to the happiness of people is determined by the progress of the social sciences, which provide a social order suitable to benefit from the achievements of the physical and biological sciences and to counteract the abuse of the achievements of these sciences. Therefore, one should be guided by the doctrine of the priority of the social (including the humanities) sciences over the physical and biological sciences. The idea that the progress of mankind is ensured not by the development of the social (including the humanities) sciences, but exclusively by the achievements of the physical and biological sciences should be dispelled as erroneous and harmful.
Thesis 10.
« Naturalistic "social science allows to adequately respond to new challenges of the time, in particular, contributes to the solution of problems that arise in connection with the process of globalization of the social life of people
As the experience of the Age of Enlightenment shows, an adequate response to the new challenges that appeared before mankind was provided with the help of new social ideas formulated by the social (and humanitarian) sciences. Based on this, one should recognize the existence of a social pattern, which can be expressed as follows: "The fate of peoples is determined by universities, not parties, governments or parliaments." Consequently, peace, security, the well-being of peoples depend on the progress of the social sciences. This progress lies precisely in the "naturalization" of the social sciences, that is, in the extent to which the natural (natural) laws of people's social life are reflected in the social sciences. "Naturalistic" social science prompts, in particular, to consider the globalization of social life of people as the approach of all national societies to one "common denominator" - to the natural (natural) laws of social life of people, which are common to all peoples. Proceeding from this, the problems that have arisen in connection with the global economic crisis that humanity has today should be resolved - that is, through the reform of economic science (and thanks to this, the economic culture of people) on the basis of the principle of the naturalness of the social.
CONCLUSIONS:
If we assume that the hypothesis outlined here is correct, then this gives grounds for the following conclusion: social science, being doctrinally reformed into the branch of natural science (natural science) with the help of the “principle of the naturalness of the social” (the principle of social naturalism), can contribute to the formation of a new social culture of citizens , which is the basis of a new social (that is, political, economic, legal, moral) order in modern society and the engine of social progress. There is, obviously, the following pattern - how humanity will use the achievements of the physical and biological sciences depends on the development of social sciences, which form the social culture of people: what kind of culture of people - such is their life. And this means that in order to adequately respond to the challenges that appear before modern mankind (in particular, challenges that are associated with the achievements of the physical and biological sciences), one should adhere to the doctrine of the priority of social sciences (including the humanities) over the physical and biological sciences. The development of mankind gives rise to the need for sciences that would adequately explain the new social phenomena that arise as a result of this development. Therefore, in particular, proceeding from "naturalistic" sociology, the global economic crisis that has arisen now can be explained as a manifestation of the crisis of the social culture of people, generated by the crisis of the social (and humanitarian) sciences. Today these sciences no longer adequately reflect the new social realities, in particular the laws of a new social nature that have developed in the 21st century. This is also evidence that there is a need to reform the social sciences based on the "principle of naturalness of the social" and to establish the Newest Enlightenment, which will form a new social (political, economic, legal, moral) culture of people - the basis of social progress in the modern world.
Demography studies the size, territorial distribution and composition of the population, the patterns of their changes based on social, economic, biological and geographical factors, causes and conditions.
home task demography as a science - identification and knowledge of demographic laws, patterns, relationships. Among practical tasks There are three main demographics:
1) based on the collection and demographic analysis of information, the study of trends and factors of demographic processes;
2) development of demographic forecasts;
3) development of measures of demographic statistics.
In demography, various research methods are used, among them the descriptive method, statistical and mathematical methods of analysis, the abstract-analytical method, the comparative method, analysis and synthesis, generalization, methods of induction and deduction, the method of proposing hypotheses and their verification, extrapolation and modeling, sociological methods studies of demographic behavior, cartographic methods, etc. In this case, statistical and mathematical methods of analysis occupy the main place in demography.
Among the demographic methods themselves, which are most often used in demographic scientific and practical works, are the cohort method, longitudinal and transverse demographic analysis, the method of potential demography, methods of standardizing demographic coefficients, etc.
Demographic models are widely used in scientific and practical works; demographic projection (especially often done by age-shifting) is usually an integral part of most work with demographic topics.
Modern demography is a complex science of population (population), or, more precisely, it is a whole system of interacting sciences that jointly study population reproduction and individual demographic processes. Internal differentiation of demography is gradually becoming more complex. There are three main criteria on the basis of which the internal differentiation in demography is substantiated; at the same time, the selection of subdisciplines and divisions within demography is based on the joint application of all these criteria. Among them:
1) the theoretical level of scientific interpretation of the observed phenomena;
2) objective-objective criterion;
3) connection with practice, the degree of focus on solving practical, applied problems.
In demography, as in other sciences, there is a process specialization. Among the branches of demography, for example, demographic statistics, descriptive demography, formal demography, theoretical demography, historical demography, economic demography, social demography and a number of other sections are distinguished.
There are several areas of work in demography: demographic theory, collection of primary data on the population and demographic processes, description of demographic processes, pure - or formal - demography (considers the quantitative relationships of demographic phenomena, processes, structures, changes in the size and composition of the population under their influence), demographic analysis, historical demography, etc. As a result, seven main components can be distinguished in the system of demographic sciences:
1) theoretical demography, history of demography, descriptive demography, economic demography, modeling of socio-demographic processes, i.e. a kind of theoretical foundation of science;
2) sectoral demographic sciences: medical demography, ethnic demography, military demography, political demography, etc.;
3) sources of information and methods: sources of data on the population, methods - statistical, mathematical, sociological, cartographic, etc.;
4) regional demography;
5) applied demographic research;
6) social and demographic forecasting;
7) theoretical foundations of demographic policy.
Demography has close relationships with other sciences. Demography interacts especially closely:
1) with socio-economic and historical sciences, studying the economy of the population, sociology, social psychology, social and migration policy, geography of the population, ethnography, etc.;
2) mathematics and statistics (formal demography and statistical demography);
3) biological sciences: population genetics, evolutionary biology, epidemiology, biological forecasting of population development, etc. Demography uses methods and draws on the facts established by these sciences. In turn, other sciences use demographic data to gain a deeper understanding of their research subject.
The closest is the connection between demography and history, since it is the consideration of reproduction as a historical process that makes it possible to reveal its social conditioning, dependence on specific socio - economic processes of a particular period of society development. With the help of ethnography, demography reveals the impact on the processes of population reproduction of the characteristics of the culture and life of different peoples. Of the economic sciences, the ones most closely related to demography are those that study employment and distributional relations. Of the sociological sciences, the sociology of the family is closest to demography. Social psychology helps demography understand the patterns of demographic behavior. Since this behavior is also regulated by legal norms, there are areas in demography associated with jurisprudence. Demographic processes usually have significant regional differentiation, and also depend on the types of settlement and settlement. Therefore, demography uses information and methods of population geography.
Statistical and mathematical methods are extremely important in demography. It is with their help that most of the data on the population is collected, and then these data are checked and corrected (errors are identified, standardization is carried out, etc.). It is no coincidence that demography first appeared as part of statistics. The bulk of the data comes from demographics, population statistics and health statistics.
Many demographic processes are based on a biological component. This explains the use in demography of methods and results of studies of genetics, human physiology, psychology, gerontology, anthropology and other biological sciences. The state of health of people, the influence of working and living conditions on morbidity and mortality is investigated by the science of social hygiene, which is also associated, thus, with demography.