General Problems

Political Economy, Volume I: General Problems provides a systematic treatise on political economy. This book discusses the state of economic science and the course of economic development in different parts of the world. Organized into seven chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the social or political economy as the study of social laws governing the production and distribution of the material means of satisfying human needs. This text then examines the basic regularity encountered by political economy in its analysis of the social laws governing human economic activity, which is formed by the dependence of production relations on social productive forces. Other chapters consider the objective character of economic laws. This book discusses as well the concern of economic history in the development of concrete economic progress. The final chapter deals with the differences of opinions and interpretations in the development of science. Economists will find this book useful.

Foreword to the First Polish EditionForeword to the English TranslationChapter One. the Subject Matter of Political Economy. Elementary Concepts Human needs and means of satisfying them Production, labor Means of production and means of consumption Social nature of production and distribution Productive and non-productive labor (services) Economic relations Production relations and social productive forces Distribution relations and production relations Note on The Expression "Political Economy¿ and Related TermsChapter Two. Modes of Production and Social Formations. The Materialist Interpretation of History Dependence of production relations on social productive forces Ownership of the means of production as basis of production relations Modes of production Antagonistic and non-antagonistic modes of production Law of necessary conformity between production relations and character of productive forces Social consciousness Concept of social formation. Base and superstructure Law of necessary conformity between superstructure and economic base Conservative character of social relations and social consciousness Dialectical processes in social development Social development in antagonistic formations: class struggle and social revolutions Classes and social strata Historical materialism Note On Some Formulations and On The Name of "The Materialist Interpretation of History¿Chapter Three. Economic Laws General concept Laws of causation, concomitance and functional relationship Objective character of economic laws Economic laws and laws of political economy Stochastic (statistical) character of economic laws Technical and balance laws of production Laws of human behavior and laws of interplay of human actions Historical scope of economic laws Scope of technical and balance laws of production Laws specific ta given social formation Laws resulting from the influence of superstructure Mode of operation of social formation Basic economic law of a social formation Economic laws and dialectic social processes "Economic law of motion¿ of a social formation Spontaneity in operation of economic laws Socialism overcomes spontaneity of economic laws Economic laws under socialism Objective character and spontaneity of economic laws Dialectic processes in the socialist formation Socialist formation opens new epoch in human history Practical significance of knowledge of economic lawsChapter Four. The Method of Political Economy Political economy as a theoretical discipline Economic sciences, their subject matter and relations teach other Applied economics, its branches Political economy and economies of various social formations Political economy of pre-capitalist formations Political economy of socialism Role of abstraction in political economy Economic categories, laws of political economy and economic theories Historical basis of abstraction in political economy Abstractions in political economy and the concrete nature of economic processes Successive concretization of abstractions of political economy Marx's "Capitalas¿ example of successive concretization Econometrics as an instrument in concretization of laws of political economy Verification of laws of political economy and economic theories Practical identification of economic categories Degree of agreement of laws and theories of political economy with the real economic process Statistical verification Modes of inference in political economy Role of deduction in political economy Axiomatization and formalization-role of mathematics in political economy Premisses in deduction are results of induction Reductive inference as instrument of verification Economic policy as the practical application of political economy Chapter Five. The Principle of Economic Rationality Political Economy and Praxiology Economic activity and technique Traditional character of economic activity in natural economy Separation of gainful activity from household activity in acommodity-money economy. Change in structure of ends of economic activity Rationality-the characteristic of gainful activity Quantification (measurability and commensurability) of the end and means of gainful activity. Category of profit Calculation and book-keeping in capitalist enterprises Maximization of profit-an economic necessity for a capitalist enterprise Principle of economic rationality as historical product of capitalist enterprise Planning of social economy-realization of social economic rationality Basic problems in social economic planning The method of social economic balances Praxiology-the science of rational activity Branches of scientific research belonging to praxiology: operations research and the science of programming The principles of programming Marginal calculus Linear programming Methodological links between political economy and praxiology Certain laws of political economy are conclusions deduced from praxiological principles of behavior Study of economic laws by deduction dependent on the rationality of economic activity The need to establish empirically the scope of the methodological knowledge applied in practice General appraisal of the significance of praxiology in the rationalization of economic activity Appendix: The Mathematical Foundations of ProgrammingChapter Six. The Subjectivist and The Historical Trend In Political Economy The Marxist and other trends in political economy. Their relation to classical political economy Subject matter of political economy according to the subjectivist conception: analysis of man's relation to goods on the basis of the economic principle The concept of utility according to the subjectivist conception The separation of subjectivist economic theory from the problem of social relations The subjectivist trend and economic laws The transformation of economic laws into praxiological principles of behavior The role of exchange in subjectivist economic theory Subjectivist trend implies the liquidation of political economy Limited and historically conditioned scope of the economic principle Is there a striving for the maximization of utility in household activity? Factors working against the rationalization of household activity under capitalism Final assessment of the subjectivist trend Historical trend The theoretical character of political economy discarded Max Weber's work in the light of the materialist interpretation of history Unhistorical nature of the methodological basis of the theories of Sombart and Max Weber Final assessment of the historical trendChapter Seven. The Social Conditioning and The Social Role of Economic Science Two factors causing differences of opinion in science: internal dialectic of cognition and social Interest, material means and freedom from prejudice - social basis of scientific development The struggle of the bourgeoisie and lay intellectuals for the development of the natural sciences