raghu wrote:
> Congrats Jim. I think you have made a very compelling case why any
> socialist economy is unsustainable. After all if workers are not
> motivated by starvation and pressured by the reserve army of the
> unemployed they will slack off and become unproductive.
That's nonsense! You make the outrageous assumption that only fear can
motivate people to work. I do not assume that. I think that if people
participate in decisions, make decisions democratically, and see
production as not only helping their neighbors but themselves, there
can be an incentive to work.
Labor can also be _inherently pleasurable_, so that there is a strong
intrinsic motivation to work. This is seen in a lot of craft labor,
even in the capitalist world as we know it. In fact, it's even seen
among white-collar professionals such as myself. (In this book THE
JOYLESS ECONOMY, the late Tibor Scitovsky argued that this was an
economically significant phenomenon, even in the US, the world capital
of alienated labor.) I don't see why a democratically-run economy
could not spread the joy of work downward to the blue-collar working
class.
> And if
> capitalists are not allowed to make money without working through
> economic rents they will not invest or take any risk.
I didn't say anything about this, especially since I don't know what's
meant by "working through" economic rents. (Are you saying that
profits = a form of economic rent? I disagree, except for
super-profits.)
> If I understand Charles Brown correctly, he argues selfish incentives
> for the individual are not essential for production.
No, as far as I can tell, he's arguing that _even though_ the
now-defunct Soviet Union did not involve significant (real) democratic
participation in production decisions (not to mention in government
decision-making), even though the application of Taylorism reduced the
craft content of work, even though the patriotic burst of volunteerism
faded as 1917 fell far into hazy memories, a reserve army of
unemployed labor and the like was not needed to motivate labor.
Frankly, I don't think Charles understands the old Soviet economy very
well at all. But I may be wrong.
> But is there a
> successful (modern) example of this anywhere?
see above.
--
Jim Devine / "The radios blare muzak and newzak, diseases are cured
every day / the worst disease is to be unwanted, to be used up, and
cast away." -- Peter Case ("Poor Old Tom").
