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Investment and Property Rights in Yugoslavia Author(s): Milica Uvalić |
“Over the past forty years Yugoslavia has been trying to develop its own model of socialism based on workers' self-management, decentralization, social ownership and increasing reliance on the market. These characteristics of the Yugoslav economic system have led many scholars to consider Yugoslavia to be very different from other socialist economies, frequently ascribing, in line with the theoretical literature on the labour-managed firm, economic inefficiency of the Yugoslav economy to the specific features of its economic system. At the same time, however, until 1989 Yugoslavia remained a socialist economy characterized by many of the systemic features (and problems) of a traditional centrally planned economy. Although in Yugoslavia some of the typical priority objectives of centrally planned economies have been abandoned – such as full employment and price stability – along with many of the traditional centralized institutions, other fundamental socialist goals have been retained, including the commitment to non-private property, planning, egalitarianism, and solidarity.”
“My main motive for choosing the topic of this book has been the desire to contribute to a better understanding of the behaviour of the Yugoslav enterprise. When I first started working on the topic of investment in labour-managed firms, I was surprised to find that, according to the dominant theories developed in the West, the labour-managed firm would be likely to underinvest as compared to its capitalist counterpart. At first sight this prediction seemed to be in sharp conflict with empirical evidence from Yugoslavia - the only existing economy where labour-managed firms are prevalent - since until the early 1980s the Yugoslav economy had been characterized by high rates of investment growth. I was curious to look deeper into the principal reasons for such a divergence of empirical evidence from theoretical predictions.”
“Jugoslavija je u proteklih četrdeset godina pokušavala da razvije sopstveni model socijalizma zasnovan na radničkom samoupravljanju, decentralizaciji, društvenom vlasništvu i sve većem oslanjanju na tržište. Ove karakteristike jugoslovenskog ekonomskog sistema navele su mnoge naučnike da smatraju da je Jugoslavija veoma različita od drugih socijalističkih ekonomija, često pripisujući, u skladu sa teorijskom literaturom o firmama kojima upravlja radna snaga, ekonomsku neefikasnost jugoslovenske privrede specifičnostima njen ekonomski sistem. U isto vreme, međutim, do 1989. godine Jugoslavija je ostala socijalistička ekonomija koju su karakterisale mnoge sistemske karakteristike (i problemi) tradicionalne centralno planirane ekonomije. Iako su u Jugoslaviji neki od tipičnih prioritetnih ciljeva centralno planiranih ekonomija napušteni – kao što su puna zaposlenost i stabilnost cena – zajedno sa mnogim tradicionalnim centralizovanim institucijama, ostali fundamentalni socijalistički ciljevi su zadržani, uključujući posvećenost neprivatnoj svojini , planiranje, egalitarizam i solidarnost.”
“Moj osnovni motiv za odabir teme ove knjige je bila želja da doprinesem boljem razumevanju ponašanja jugoslovenskih preduzeća. Kada sam isprva počela da radim na temi investicija u firme sa radničkom upravom, bila sam iznenađena kad sam shvatila da, prema dominantnim zapadnim gledištima, firme sa radničkom upravom bi trebalo da nedovoljno investiraju u poređenju sa njihovim kapitalističkim takmacima. Na prvi pogled, ovo predviđanje mi se činilo da je u oštrom konfliktu sa empirijskim dokazima iz Jugoslavije - jedinoj ekonomiji u kojoj su firme sa radničkom upravom bile prevalentne - od ranih 1980ih jugoslovensku ekonomiju su karakterisali visoki stepeni investicionog rasta. Bila sam radoznala da pogledam dublje u principijelne razloge za takvo odstupanje empirijskih dokaza od teorijskih predviđanja.”
Key word: authors/Milica Uvalić, language/English, countries/Yugoslavia, Socialism, workers’ self-management, decentralization, social ownership, market, socialist economies, labour-managed firm, centrally planned economy, full employment, private property, egalitarianism, solidarity, investment, growth, property rights
Ključne reči: autori/ Milica Uvalić, jezik / engleski, zemlje / Jugoslavija, socijalizam, radničko samoupravljanje, decentralizacija, društvena svojina, tržište, socijalističke ekonomije, firme s radničkom upravom, centralna planska ekonomija, puna zaposlenost, privatna svojina, egalitarijanizam, solidarnost, investicija, rast, prava svojine
