home Economy Books History of the world economy - Polyak GB

History of the world economy - Polyak GB

28. The world economy in 1914-1959. Formation of a system of regulated capitalism

The period in question in domestic and foreign historical and economic literature is rightly characterized as the time of the formation and active development of the system of state regulation of capitalism. This was reflected in the general contraction of the liberal regime of market relations that prevailed in most developed countries throughout the nineteenth century, on the basis of an unprecedented increase in government intervention in economic relations. This process can be designated as very capacious, as it seems to us, by the term etatization (from the French 1'etat - state), and the formed regime of economic relations is defined by the term statism .

Schematically, this period can be divided into several stages: 1914-1918. - period of the military economy; 1919-1923 - the period of post-war economic crisis; 1924-1928 gg. - the period of stabilization; 1929-1933 - the period of the world economic crisis; 1934-1939 - the period of the prewar economic conjuncture.

28.1. Periods of the process of

The period of the military economy of 1914-1918 .

The second decade of the XX century. Marked the largest for the entire preceding history of mankind military cataclysm - the First World War. To confirm this thesis, it is enough to recall that more than 30 countries with 1.5 billion people were involved in the war, which at that time was 2/3 of all the people living on the planet. The scale of the losses suffered during the war is astonishing and terrifying. Of the 74 million people put under the gun, about 10 million were killed and more than 20 million were wounded and maimed. The number of civilians killed by epidemics and famine - indispensable companions of the war, was at least 10 million.

In addition, about one-third of the material values ​​of its member countries were destroyed by the war. This is not only a huge amount of military equipment, but also losses in the industrial, agricultural sectors, infrastructure, housing stock, the potential of natural resources, and so on.

The war immeasurably accelerated the development of the tendency to strengthen the role of the state in economic life, far advanced the process of the formation of a system of regulated capitalism. The introduction of strict state regulation of economic relations with the aim of mobilizing economic resources for fulfilling military and political tasks under extreme conditions constantly shrinking as a result of growing irreparable losses of economic potential was the only possible condition for the continuation of the war. Therefore, by the time of its end, in virtually all countries, a clearly expressed etatist system of economic relations developed.

The following main factors influenced the degree and forms of the development of the system of state regulation of economic relations during the First World War in the belligerent countries: the level of socioeconomic development, the peculiarities of the national way of life and socio-political relations, and, undoubtedly, the degree of participation of a country in direct Military operations. Nevertheless, it should be noted that in all countries participating in the war there was a pronounced process of etatization of economic relations, which after its termination was suspended, and the reverse movement began to reduce the hypertrophied system of state regulation in an emergency.

Postwar years

The post-war period of the unstable state of the economy in most countries of the world was a direct consequence of the heavy losses incurred by them in 1914-1918. The degree of instability was also influenced by a number of factors, among which: the scale of losses suffered, the defeat or victory of a given country in the war, the degree of militarization and etatization of the economy during the war, the general level of socio-economic and political development, and a number of national characteristics.

Stabilization period

The next period of 1924-1929. Was characterized in developed countries by a further reduction in state intervention in economic relations. However, one should not understand this as a simple, mechanical, and even more complete return to a system of relatively free market relations. The illusory nature of such a view will become evident with a more specific analysis of the development of the economies of individual countries. It should only be noted that the retreat of statism was far from complete, and could not be so, since in the 1920s, in virtually all countries, an objective process of monopolizing the economy, splicing the monopolies and the state, further distorting free market relations was observed, which was expressed , In particular, through the deepening of intraeconomic imbalances, etc. Moreover, the far-flawed Versailles system, which established a "new" political order, on the whole did not resolve the acute European and world contradictions, but contributed to the preservation of the general trend towards militarization, To a new attempt at a territorial and economic redistribution of the world. This ultimately served as a political justification for maintaining sufficiently strong elements of statism also during the stabilization period.

The Great Crisis Period of 1929-1933 . Again, in a short period of time, but already in peacetime caused an unprecedented rate of growth of state intervention in economic life. The development of statism was characteristic of all countries without exception. A distinctive feature of the new stage in the development of the system of state regulation is that the phenomenon of etatization gets a sufficiently strong theoretical justification in the Keynesian theory. In a somewhat different vein, the inevitable emergence of the system of state regulation of economic relations is the doctrine that was very popular at that time: Italian corporatism, German national socialism, numerous socialist concepts, etc., which indicates the ubiquity of this process.

Post-crisis period

A comparatively short period of the post-crisis state of the economy in 1934-1939. Is not marked, however obvious, as it was observed in the 1920s, by the rejection of statism in most leading countries. The reasons for this, in our opinion, lie primarily in the generally extremely unstable state of the national economies, which at that time, although to varying degrees, were affected by the recent global crisis. Moreover, it can be said with certain confidence that the system of state regulation of the economy is being developed everywhere, based on a pronounced tendency towards militarization in the conditions of the preparations for the Second World War.