Rice. 18.4. Achieving balance in the implementation of goals requires a complex combination of steps!

broken glass on the landings are striking and depressing examples for representatives of the developed countries of the market economy who come to Russia, who are accustomed to extreme frugality.

The second aspect of solving the problem of growth is the active use of economic dynamics to create new technologies that are less harmful to nature. It is also important to reorientate structurally towards the expansion of those types of production that are associated with the production of technical equipment for cleaning the environment.

The ratio of a number of other goals may be neutral. For example, in this ratio

are: maintaining price stability and protecting the environment, fair distribution of income and external economic balance. The simultaneous solution of such goals does not cause any special difficulties.

Finally, we note the most successful options for solving the target problem. This happens when the chosen landmarks mutually determine each other: the fulfillment of one goal helps the achievement of another. And it can be done at the same time. As an example, let us name a parallel increase in employment and economic growth rates.

All of the above leads to the conclusion: when forming a model of economic policy, it is necessary to maintain a certain balance in the ratio of targets (Fig. 18.4).

§ 4. Tools economic policy states

Economic regulation system

The implementation of economic policy is possible only with the use of a set of measures, tools that form the mechanism of state influence on the economy. For the ability to rationally use them, knowledge is required

Section III. Macroeconomics

measure data structures. Depending on the selected criteria, there are several options for their classification. In particular, according to the method of functioning, methods of direct and indirect influence on the economy are distinguished.

Methods of direct influence imply such regulation by the state, in which the subjects of the economy are forced to come to decisions based not on independent economic choice, but on the instructions of the state.

As an example, let's call tax law, legal rules in the field of depreciation, budgetary procedures for public investment. Direct methods often have a high degree of effect due to the rapid achievement of economic result. However, they have a serious drawback - the creation of obstacles to the market process.

Methods of indirect influence are manifested in the fact that the state does not directly influence the decisions made by the subjects of the economy. It only creates the preconditions for an independent choice economic decisions subjects gravitated toward those options that correspond to the goals of economic policy.

The advantages of these methods of influencing the economy are that they do not disrupt the market situation, do not introduce an unexpected imbalance into a state of dynamic equilibrium. The disadvantage is a certain time lag observed between the adoption of measures by the state, their perception by the economy and the resulting changes in economic results.

Let us now turn to another very important classification of the methods considered. The approach criterion is organizational and institutional. This list includes: administrative, economic, institutional methods (Fig. 18.5).

Administrative measures

The set of administrative levers covers those regulatory actions that are related to the provision of legal infrastructure. The task of the measures taken in this case is to create the most reasonable legal framework conditions for the private sector. Their function is to provide a stable legal environment for business life,

Chapter 18

ADMINISTRATIVE 11 ECONOMIC I INSTITUTIONAL

Financial mechanism Monetary mechanism

Goal: Achieving a balance between aggregate demand and aggregate supply


Keynesian version:		Monetary option:
impact predominantly		impact predominantly
on the aggregate demand		on the total offer
POLITICS		POLITICS
GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES		STATE REVENUE

		SOURCES
Transform	Subsidies	Homemade	tax
	subventions	farms
Transfer	Investments	Enterprises	Non-tax
	Loans	Territorial

corporations

Abroad

Rice. 18.5. System of economic policy instruments

protection of the competitive environment, preservation of property rights and opportunities for free economic decision making.

Section III. Macroeconomics

Administrative measures, in turn, are divided into measures of prohibition, permission, coercion.

The degree of activity in the application of administrative measures may vary depending on the area of the economy. They are most persistently manifested now in the field of environmental protection, as well as in the field of social protection poorer strata of the population.

In the Russian economy, there are two trends in relation to administrative methods:

- as a result of the aggravated political confrontation between the power structures, the effectiveness of administrative measures has significantly decreased;

- The legacy of the era of the command economy led to a certain soreness in relation to administrative levers. The turn of the economy towards a market system gave rise to a natural desire to renounce them. As a result of the pendulum effect, the withdrawal turned out to be excessively strong.

Economic measures

Economic instruments include those actions of the state that are not so much prescriptive as influencing certain aspects of the market process. We can talk about methods of influencing aggregate demand, aggregate supply, the degree of centralization of capital, social and structural aspects of the economy.

To economic measures include:

- financial (budgetary, fiscal) policy;

- monetary(monetary) policy;

- programming;

- forecasting.

The concept of "financial policy" is a capacious category. It reflects two approaches. On the one hand, it is a mechanism for realizing the goals of economic policy. On the other hand, the implementation financial measures is one of the constituent elements of the general economic policy as such.

The category "monetary policy" has a similar multifaceted character. Compared to financial measures, monetary measures are more of an indirect effect. This is due, for example, to the fact that the financial policy is carried out primarily by the Ministry of Finance - an integral part of the government. Monetary

Chapter 18

policy is implemented central bank, which, as a rule, has relative independence from the legislative and executive authorities.

In the conditions of the current market economy, it is customary, as a rule, to first consider the possibility of monetary measures, and then - financial ones. This is due to the fact that the use monetary policy to a greater extent reflects the typical ratio of market and state principles in the economy. A mature national economy basically involves the indirect impact of the state on economic entities. This preserves the freedom to make private economic decisions.

In the conditions of a transforming economy (or in the event of a crisis), the ratio of methods may be different. The financial (i.e., direct) aspect of regulation is sometimes brought to the fore.

Programming and forecasting mainly reflects the indirect variant state regulation. The programs are advisory in nature for the private sector. This process is focused mainly on providing the business community with important economic information. In both cases (when drawing up programs - in a more active form), the state can indirectly suggest and encourage entrepreneurs to take action. However, businessmen make their own decisions about them.

Institutional Measures

Describing the methods of state influence, one can also emphasize their organizational and institutional form.

The concept of "institutional" is relatively little used in domestic scientific circulation. Unfortunately, it is perceived even weaker by the economic thinking of the population. Meanwhile, the development of the economy in the market-legal version puts forward the need for a much more active use of this term. It reflects the fact that the phenomena of economic life in a developed state of law lose their random character. A network of certain legal, ethical, psychological, organizational norms and customs is, as it were, superimposed on the surface of economic reality. Economic policy itself is a system of organizationally formalized actions and traditions.

Section III. Macroeconomics

Such actions, associated with a relatively long-lived phenomenon, create the concept of "institution". According to W. Hamilton, institutions are a verbal symbol for the best description of a group of social customs. They signify the prevailing and permanent way of thinking or acting which has become the habit of some social group or the custom of a people. As an example, let's name: "institute of law", "institute of property".

Among the options for the dissemination of institutional forms in modern conditions note:

- the formation of executive structures of state power, the immediate task of which is the practical implementation of the goals of the government;

- creation and maintenance of objects of state property, i.е. public sector;

- preparation economic programs and economic forecasts;

- support for economic research centers (having different forms of ownership), economic information institutes, chambers of commerce and industry, various economic councils and unions;

- ensuring the functioning of institutions of advisers, consultants, expert councils on economic problems;

- legal, informational support for business and trade unions, rational forms of their interaction;

- participation in the creation of forms of economic integration, organization of regular international meetings on economic issues (for example, representatives of the G7 group).

The institutional aspect of state regulation in Russia has always manifested itself with certain specifics. It was implemented in domestic practice mainly

in form of creation a large number institutions themselves and, to a lesser extent, legal institutions. Suffice it to recall that in the conditions of the USSR there were about 900 ministries, departments, and departments. In the present period, there are changes in the former emphases of the institutional approach.

Financial mechanism of economic policy

Finance is one of the most complex categories in economic science. In general, this is a set of value flows associated with the distribution and use of cash

Chapter 18

resources. In the traditional course of domestic economic science, it was customary to understand “finance” as a system of production relations, rather than the movement of funds itself.

Functioning process financial system to fulfill certain goals at the state level is a financial policy. This concept is multifaceted. Regulation macroeconomic equilibrium, achieving stabilization with the help of income and expenses is commonly called " fiscal policy". Using financial resources, the state also participates in solving other problems, for example, social distribution problems. A full range of all tasks performed through public finance, forms the category of "financial policy" (one of the elements of which, therefore, is fiscal policy).

What do they represent government spending? By this term it is customary to understand the costs of the state for the acquisition of material goods and services related to the satisfaction of public needs. The main objective of spending policy is to influence aggregate demand. This effect is quite direct.

AT economic theory the question is: for production

and the supply of what goods should the state spend money on? Before answering, it should be emphasized again socio-political idea on which the economy is based. The optimal production of goods is mainly ensured by the market system itself. And only in case of failure of the mechanism of the market system, the state intervenes in the process. At the same time, the development of a market economy has formed the following pattern: the state spends funds on the creation of mainly public (public) goods (primarily of a social nature) and eliminates negative external effects arising from the consumption of a number of private goods (for example, by implementing measures to restore the environment) .

By “government revenues” it is customary to understand current money and property transfers (transfer) from the private sector to the state. The transfer of funds can be made on the basis of the receipt of counter services or without any reimbursement. The objectives of income policy can be summarized in two groups:

Section III. Macroeconomics

- fundraising for the formation financial fund, with the help of which it is possible to influence the macroeconomic equilibrium;

- achieving a regulatory effect through the very technique of withdrawing resources (for example, manipulating tax rates).

The practice of a developed market economy shows that the income policy has a stronger regulatory effect compared to the spending policy. The explanation is largely of a socio-psychological nature. A person perceives the fact of withdrawal more emotionally than the case of not receiving. A whip weighs more than a gingerbread!

Receipt Forms government revenue

There are various forms and methods of accumulation of state revenues. In the very general view collection of funds is usually divided into tax and non-tax tax income. The latter include fees and charges. The most developed form of forced withdrawal of funds (without opposition of a counter service) is represented by taxes. This is the most important source of state funds. Through taxes developed states mobilize from 18-21% of GDP

in Japan and the USA, up to 37% in Sweden and up to 50% in Denmark.

AT as a whole, the tax system as a set of forms and methods of collection financial resources is a complex phenomenon. It contains a deep contradiction: on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure the withdrawal of sufficiently solid financial resources from the subjects of the economy, and on the other hand, to prevent a decrease in their business activity. The solution to this paradox is carried out at the expense of a reasonable compromise.

The tax system achieves rationality, according to the German economist X. Haller, if the following conditions are met:

- taxation should be structured in such a way that the state's costs for its implementation are as low as possible (orientation to the so-called "principle of cheap taxation");

- the collection of taxes should ensure that the taxpayer's costs associated with the payment procedure are as low as possible (the principle of cheapness in paying taxes);

- the payment of taxes should be as little as possible a tangible burden for the taxpayer in order not to infringe on him

Chapter 18

economic activity (the principle of limiting the tax burden);

- taxation should not be an obstacle either to the "internal" rational organization of production, or to its orientation to the structure of needs, i.e. "external" rationality;

- the process of obtaining taxes should be organized in such a way that it can contribute to the greatest extent (through the accumulated financial resources) to the implementation of the policy of the conjuncture and employment (opportunistic efficiency);

- this process should affect the distribution of income

With the purpose of making it more fair (distributive efficiency);

- in the process of determining the "tax solvency" of individuals and clarifying settlements with them, it should be minimally required to provide information affecting personal life citizens (respect for the private sphere);

- care should be taken to ensure that the combination of taxes forms single system in which each tax has its specific purpose. At the same time, neither mutual "overlapping" of taxes, nor the presence of "hatchholes" between them (internal isolation) should be allowed.

Stabilizing role of taxes

AT market economy taxes automatically play an important stabilizing role. According to the definition of the German economist F. Neumark, the concept of "automatic stabilizer" (or "built-in flexibility") is a counter-cyclical internal adjustment of the state budget, which manifests itself automatically, without any measures, and arising from the nature of certain income or expenses.

The process of countercyclical adjustment of taxes is as follows. In case of overheating of the conjuncture, an increase in volume occurs national income. In the presence of a progressively constructed scale of taxation, the amount of payments to the budget increases, which has a restraining effect on further economic activity. In addition, the increased volume state budget allows with the help of means social policy to raise the level of consumption of the low-income strata and thereby increase aggregate demand, bringing it closer to the increased aggregate

Section III Macroeconomics

offer. In conditions of falling market conditions, the opposite happens.

However, in order for the process of automatic adjustment to take place, a prerequisite in the form of a high degree of reaction is necessary. tax system to the conjuncture. Different taxes have different degrees of opportunistic elasticity. In turn, this is due to the methods of constructing tax rates, the very basis (i.e., the object of taxation), as well as the technique of levying taxes.

Those taxes that automatically follow the course of the conjuncture, due to the basis on which they are built (income, turnover, profit, etc.) have increased anticyclical properties. Since the core of the tax system in developed industrial countries is taxes on income, profits and turnover, these tax systems have a high degree of market elasticity.

In connection with the above, in financial theory it is customary to use the indicator of elasticity of tax revenues. It is calculated as a ratio:

percentage (or absolute) change in tax revenue percentage (or absolute) change in national income

In the German economy, for example, the degree of tax response is 1.5. This means that a 1% increase or decrease in national income results in a 1.5% increase or decrease in tax revenue.

General conclusion: the degree of reaction of the entire tax system to the conjuncture depends on the specific weight of taxpayers in it. certain types taxes. It is believed that the system has an effective market-stabilizing effect when its elasticity level is equal to 1. This happens if the value of income and corporate taxes in the tax system is sufficiently high.

The regulatory possibilities of the tax system depend not only on the totality of their types, but also on the rationally found level of taxation rates. Let us give typical examples characteristic of developed countries (Table 18.1).

Speaking of influence tax policy on general economic indicators, one economic aspect should be taken into account. It's about about the so-called "lag effect". This phenomenon is expressed in the fact that certain time so that the intervention of financial policy can cause the expected change in the economy.

Chapter 18 State and Economic Policy

Table 18.1

Tax rates in various countries OECD and in Russia (1997, %)


	Income tax
			corporations
	minimal	maximum	maximum	normative


Germany

The degree of the regulatory role of taxes is influenced - and quite ambiguously - by one more circumstance. In the process of paying taxes, there are cases when economic entities avoid taxation. Underpayment of taxes can occur in two ways: in legal and illegal forms. The legal option involves the use by the taxpayer of systems of benefits or a certain degree of conditionality of regulatory prescriptions (real life, as you know, is always more complicated than any prescription made in the form of a certain generalized scheme).

Summing up the characteristics of the financial mechanism, we note that a high degree of built-in flexibility of the financial system is considered desirable for the economy. Built-in financial stabilizers have the positive aspect that they make an accurate diagnosis and forecast of the market situation not so necessary. At the same time, the advantages of built-in stabilizers should not lead to overestimation of their capabilities. These stabilizers, as a rule, soften market fluctuations, but cannot completely prevent them.

Credit mechanism of economic policy

AT process economic regulation the state widely uses monetary measures. Like the financial mechanism, they have a dual aspect of expression. From one

Section III. Macroeconomics

On the other hand, it is an integral part of the whole complex of economic policy. Simultaneously credit regulation acts as a tool government intervention into the economy.

The subject of credit policy is the Central Bank (CB). According to the law, it fulfills the goals of the government, but at the same time, as a rule, it is not a government institution. The Central Bank has a certain degree of independence. Such rights are given to him on the basis of the principle of separation of powers. As the experience of Western countries shows, this institution, which has relative independence, is not an uncomplaining executor of the will of the state. In a difficult economic situation, the government cannot demand from credit center decisions of their financial problems by issuing additional money supply.

The set of tasks of the Central Bank in the implementation of economic policy contains two directions. First, providing national economy complete monetary system. A stable currency is an essential element of the market infrastructure. The second direction is related to the fact that Central bank the function of influencing the lending activity of private business (commercial) banks was prescribed in the interests of macroeconomic policy. In the sphere of monetary circulation, the state pursues its policy, thus using cooperation with this accomplice of regulation. A kind of tandem is formed: "the state - the central bank." Practice shows the high efficiency of this cooperation.

Let's make a comparison: in the production sphere, the state does not have such an effective lever of influence. And this is no coincidence. This sector must have a high degree of freedom and independence, which is required by the very nature of the market. In this case, the state focuses on indirect ways of influencing - through monetary circulation, which is a kind of circulatory system of the economy.

Chapter 18

Tools

Operating in the sphere of monetary circulation, the Central Bank uses a number of instruments. Most of them have an indirect impact. This is an analogy general principles government action in the economy. However, some operations of the credit center can also be carried out in a more direct way (a similar example is government subsidies).

In general, the structure of the measures taken by the Central Bank can be represented by the following scheme (Fig. 18.6).

The method of limiting the dynamics of lending is that in some countries (England, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands) the Central Bank has the right to limit the degree of growth in credit investments of business banks in the non banking sector. For this purpose, a percentage rate for the expansion of credit operations for a certain period of time is introduced. If the conditions are not met, the Central Bank imposes sanctions: banks may be required to pay penalty interest or (as is customary in Switzerland) to transfer to an interest-free account of the Central Bank an amount equal to the amount of the excess loan.

Accounting (discount) policy is one of the long used methods of regulation. The Central Bank acts as a credit

Credit policy

Direct methods Indirect methods


Restrictions	Accounting (discount
speakers	naya) policy
lending	Operations on
	open market
	Politics mini
	small reserves
	Voluntary
	agreements

Rice. 18.6. Credit policy of the Central Bank

Section III. Macroeconomics

tora in relation to business banks. The funds are provided subject to rediscounting of bank bills and secured by them valuable papers. Such funds received in the central credit link are called "rediscount" or "lombard" loans. Based on the law, the Central Bank has the right to manipulate the interest rate at which it issues loans to banks. The possibility of establishing the "price" of the loan acts as a method of influencing the credit system.

Resorting to such a type of regulation as "open market operations", the Central Bank buys and sells securities (for example, on the stock exchange). By selling them, the bank essentially withdraws excess balance sheet reserves of commercial banks. In macroeconomic terms, this means the withdrawal from circulation of a certain mass Money. The purchase of securities by the Central Bank contributes to the formation of additional balance reserves from commercial banks. money supply in circulation increases. As a result, opportunities for credit operations business banks.

The policy of minimum reserves ensures the obligatory storage of certain sums of money business banks on the accounts of the Central Bank. Thus, banks receive a certain element of insurance from the side of the Central Bank when fulfilling their obligations. This method was first introduced in the US economy in 1933.

The set of regulatory measures is complemented by a system of so called “voluntary agreements” concluded between the Central Bank and business banks. Such agreements are especially convenient when the Central Bank must make prompt decisions, act quickly and without much bureaucracy.

Problems practical implementation credit policy

The greatest effectiveness of the regulatory action of the Central Bank is manifested when the entire set of economic instruments is used, moreover, in an expedient sequence. Influencing macroeconomic regulation, the Central Bank should take into account both the interconnections of the national economy within the framework of the world economy (according to currency line), and the interdependence of links in the national economy. We are talking, in particular, about the following problem situations.

1. Accounting policy influences not only banks, but also other sectors of the economy. The negative impact of

Chapter 18

cent fluctuations is manifested in relation to those areas National economy who are burdened with debt. They include: government sector, capital-intensive industries (nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power plants), railway transport, households, farming.

2. Interest policy leads to an increasing price effect. Economic entities tend to get out of the influence of the growing discount rate by shifting their costs onto the shoulders of clients (increasing, accordingly, the price of their securities). As a result, an additional difficulty is created for the government's policy in the field of curbing inflation.

As part of Russian economy currently experiencing significant inflation problems, this side effect is especially painful. Private sector seeks to put on the buyer all the additional burden that falls on him as a result of regulatory measures. The possibility of such financial resourcefulness is higher in Russia, since the degree of market saturation and competition is weaker than it is in Russia. developed countries West.

3. Administrative prescription of the level of interest "from above" is not a market-oriented action. The weakening of the market fundamentals of the economy leads to undesirable consequences. For example, the result may be the strengthening of elements of the shadow economy.

Conducting economic regulation with the help of a financial or credit mechanism raises an important question for economists: in what situation is this or that option more optimal? Another problem is the following: what ratio of financial and credit measures is reasonable to practice in the economy?

The predominance of financial measures in the course of regulation is usually called the "Keynesian" version of economic policy. Greater emphasis was placed on the monetary mechanism in economics the name "monetism". The practice of implementing economic policy in Western countries has shown that the most rational is a combination of both directions of regulation. However, within its framework, there is always an alternating fluctuation in the direction of strengthening one or another method, depending on the state of the economic situation.

Section III. Macroeconomics

Review questions

1. What is the evolution of the mutual influence of the state and the market? What is it due to? Is this evolution uniform?

2. What patterns in the development of a modern market economy follow, in your opinion, to take into account for a more accurate understanding of the possibilities of state regulation?

3. When was the concept of "state economic policy" formed? What caused it? Does the practical side of economic policy differ from the scientific side?

4. What can you say about the opinion of the German economist

AT. Eucken: “More or less statehood - such a formulation of the question passes by the problem. This is not a quantitative, but a qualitative problem. How intolerable in the era of industry, modern technology of large cities and crowds of human masses to let the formation economic order just as the state itself is incapable of directing the economic process.”

(Answer hint: the manufacturing process can and should be controlled by a self-adjusting economic mechanism. The state should look after the creation of this mechanism, and then - over its serviceability).

5. Why does the system of economic policy objectives have a rather complex structure?

6. Russian society is objectively subjected under the conditions of a market economy to ever greater stratification, i.e. more and more social strata and population groups are formed. Does this process lead to a more complex goal structure? Is this a factor that enhances the effectiveness of economic policy or, on the contrary, weakens it?

7. The governments of countries with a developed market economy usually put forward in their programs not the achievement of the main goal (the welfare of society), but the fulfillment of subordinate tasks. In the programs of the governments of the socialist countries, the main goal was noted mainly. Try to explain this difference.

8. One of the most important tasks of the state is the creation of infrastructure. What aspects of infrastructure do you consider important for the functioning of the market? Do you limit the concept of infrastructure to only material components?

9. What is the basis for understanding economic priorities? What is the mechanism for their determination? Should priority be determined by public interest or private interest?

10. How would you answer the rhetorical question that V. Eucken poses in his book: “Is it really possible to develop principles of economic policy that would something other than an ideology associated with certain interests?

11. Human society in its development has tried various options for its institutional structure. However, economic policy is implemented, as a rule, in any case. What, in your opinion, is the specificity of the conduct of economic policy in a capitalist, socialist, fascist economy? What are the similarities and what are the differences?

12. According to the German economist W. Eucken, economic policy in different countries until 1914 had a certain uniformity, which later disappeared. Each country began to actively implement various regulatory concepts and implement its own experiments. hallmark there was an emphasis on improvisation. In most cases, the experiments were not thought out in advance in detail. But whatever the real impact of each experiment, the positive value of them was that they allowed to accumulate a vast experience in the implementation of economic policy. What is your opinion on this matter?

13. Do you think that an ideal economic policy is possible?

14. What is the objective basis for dividing state regulation methods into direct and indirect ones? In this connection, the state tends to use, as a rule, both options?

15. What is the effectiveness of indirect methods of regulation? Why are they more consistent with the nature of the market economy?

16. Explain the logic of dividing state measures into administrative, economic and institutional ones.

17. What phenomena in economic reality predetermine the possibility and expediency of introducing the concept of "institutional methods"? In the development of economic theory in the United States, the direction of "institutionalism" has developed, using various kinds of social, psychological, legal, ethical, technical and other phenomena, including customs, in interpreting economic processes (see: Economic encyclopedia. Political Economy. - M., 1975. T. 2. S. 28). Is there, in your opinion, a connection between the concepts of "institutional methods" and "institutionalism"?

18. What does the concept of "financial economy" include? How does it differ from the concept of "finance", "financial system", "financial science"?

19. The American economist R. Musgrave names allocation, redistribution, and stabilization as functions of the financial economy. In the domestic economic literature it is customary to call the distributive and control function of finance (see: Finance / Under the editorship of V.M. Rodionova. - M., 1993. P. 21-25). Comment on this difference, state the content of the functions.

20. What is the initial contradiction of the budget itself as a financial institutional phenomenon?

21. Why does the system of subsidies (subventions) contradict the market mechanism?

22. Which component of public finance (expenditure or revenue) has a stronger regulatory effect? How can you explain it?

23. Why are tax revenues the predominant form of budget receipts compared to non-tax revenues?

24. List the principles of the tax system.

25. What types of tax classifications do you know?

26. Should income tax have a progressive or regressive scale? What is the current income tax scale in Russia?

Section III. Macroeconomics

27. Why is it so controversial current situation with the tax system in Russia? What, in your opinion, are the reasons for the difficulties in forming the tax system in Russia?

28. The Central Bank (CB) plays a significant role in maintaining the foundations of a market economic system. What exactly does this manifest itself in?

29. What factors predetermine the degree of development of the regulatory role of the Central Bank?

30. Which methods of the Central Bank are more market oriented and which are not? Which operations are tougher and which are softer?

31. What are the effective qualities of accounting policies, on the one hand, and disadvantages, on the other?

32. What problematic situations related to credit regulation can you name?

33. How do you rate this method? monetary regulation in Russia as a currency band? What are its pros and cons?

34. What toolkit mainly focuses on the economic policy of the Keynesian direction? What do neoliberals (neoconservatives) place particular emphasis on? What are your reasons for answering these questions?

35. What circumstances determine the periodic change of regulation models?

36. What is the peculiarity of the interaction of financial and monetary policy in Russia?

37. The state operates with a set of direct and indirect methods of regulation. The relatively independent Central Bank uses the same approach. Try to compare indirect

and direct impact options undertaken, on the one hand, by the state, and on the other hand, by the Central Bank.

38. American economist L.L. Malabre in "What is latest economy» (1989) notes that the inability any of the existing schools of economic science to propose a development strategy that allows you to get rid of recessions and inflation does not mean that you should abandon further attempts to unravel the secret of the self-propulsion of a market economy. After all, despite setbacks, the US economy has come a long way and certainly has significant potential for further growth.

Can you find certain analogies when considering the formation of the course of domestic economic policy?

Approximate lecture plan

1. The economic policy of the state as a result of the development of a market system.

2. Subjects of economic policy.

3. Goals of state regulation of the economy.

4. Tools for the implementation of economic policy.

Chapter 18

Questions for discussion at the seminar

1. Factors that determine the strengthening and weakening of the role of the state in the economy at various stages of market development.

2. The problem of interaction of targets for various subjects of economic policy.

3. The problem of resolving target conflicts in the implementation of state regulation measures.

4. Financial and monetary mechanisms for the implementation of economic policy. Problems of compatibility of "Keynesian" and "monetary" tools.

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Stiglitz J. Economics of the public sector / Per. from English. - M., 1997.

Tanzi N. Evolution of the role of the state / / World economy and international relations. 1998. No. 10.

Heine P. Economic way of thinking / Per. from English. - M., 1991. Shvyrkov Yu. State regulation of the economy / / Ekono

mist. 1996. No. 8.

Shenaev V.N., Naumchenko O.V. The Central Bank in the process of economic regulation. Overseas experience and the possibility of its use in Russia. - M., 1994.

Economy. Textbook / Ed. A.S. Bulatov. - M., 1994. Ch. 21, 22, 23.24.

Erhard L. Welfare for all / Per. with him. - M., 1991.

INTERNATIONAL

ECONOMIC

RELATIONS

§ 1. Internationalization of the economy as the basis for the formation of the world economy

World economic relations and the position of Russia

International economic relations are one of the most dynamically developing areas of economic life. Economic relations between states have a long history. For centuries, they existed mainly as foreign trade, solving the problem of providing the population with goods that the national economy produced inefficiently or did not produce at all. In the course of evolution, foreign economic relations outgrew foreign trade and turned into a complex set of international economic relations- world economy. The processes taking place in it affect the interests of all states of the world.

One of the most important tasks for Russia in the economic sphere is the need to determine its place in the world economy, corresponding to its scale and potential. Being an integral part Soviet economy, the Russian one was focused on participation in the international division of labor, mainly among the CMEA member countries. A feature of this integration grouping was the planned centralized regulation of foreign economic relations. This made it possible to protect national economies from the "storms of the world market", but at the same time protected from the need to objectively assess the competitiveness of manufactured products. A natural consequence of such "hothouse" conditions is lagging behind world integration processes, weak built-in

into the system of the international division of labor, international trade and international monetary and financial relations.

The transfer of reference points in the foreign economic sphere from the tasks dictated by the state plan to the requirements and demands of the world market, in the face of a severe crisis in the domestic market, is an extremely difficult task. It has to be solved in the conditions of the collapse of the former foreign economic relations. But the need to find ways of active interaction with the world economy is beyond doubt. Our difficulties once again emphasize the need to carefully study world experience. Moreover, many countries of the world, including those that are currently leaders in world economic development, had to go through the path from a closed economy to an open economy at different times.

The world community: the differences between its constituent states

The world community includes more than 160 national, formally independent and independent economic entities. All countries have their own historical-geographical, national, religious and socio-political specifics, which are reflected in the most diverse forms in the socio-economic features of the development of a given country.

One of the laws of the world economy has been and remains uneven economic development. As a result, there is a great differentiation of countries according to the level of socio-economic development. Some of the countries are usually referred to the center, while others - to the periphery of the world economy. Accordingly, the degree of economic and political influence of these countries on the processes taking place in the world economy is different. Classification of the countries of the world community is made on the basis of various criteria. Until recently, in our literature, the world community was divided into the world of socialism, the world of capitalism, and the third world. The essentially confrontational division was also supported by the thesis about the main content of the era - as a period of transition from capitalism to socialism. The rejection of the ideological differentiation of the world, of the "struggle of the two systems" does not remove the problem of the heterogeneity of the countries of the world community.

Chapter 19. International Aspects of Economic Development

With the most general approach to the classification of the countries of the world community, three groups of states can be distinguished in accordance with the specifics of economic systems: countries with a developed, developing market economy and countries with a non market economy; three groups according to the degree of development (low, medium, highly developed); Newly Industrialized Countries (NIEs) of Southeast Asia and Latin America; highly profitable oil exporters (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.); least developed countries (LDCs), including the poorest countries in the world (Chad, Bangladesh, Ethiopia); various regional unions and integration groupings.

The last decades of the XX century. are characterized by a deepening of the socio-economic differentiation of the countries of the world community, primarily in terms of the level of development. A relatively small group of newly industrialized countries (NIEs) continue to grow and converge with the level of development of industrialized countries. Least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa, Asia and Latin America are increasingly lagging behind even the averages for developing countries as a whole. The average per capita GNP in the LDC countries (and, according to the current UN classification, there are more than 40 countries with a population of more than 400 million people) is 4 times less than in the developing world, and 50 times less than in the developed world. And all this diversity is pulled together into unity by the force field of mutual economic dependence.

At the same time, interdependence does not remove intercountry contradictions. They manifest themselves in relations between regional groupings of countries, such as the Asian, European and American regions, and in relations between industrialized countries, such as the rivalry between the United States, Western European countries and Japan. Confrontation of interests is also present in relations between developed and developing countries. The latter believe, sometimes not without reason, that they, in cooperation with developed countries, remain an object of exploitation and pumping out super profits.

Autarky or interdependence?

The question naturally arises: “Should the national economy be oriented towards the regime of an open economy, i.e. to a situation where a country depends on world trade, and exports

Section IV. International economic relations

and imports make up a significant share of the national income, or should the economy be closed when foreign economic relations do not have a significant impact on its condition? » Answering this question, one can point out that the world is familiar with situations when the aggravation of intercountry contradictions sometimes leads to political demarcation. As a result, in order to maintain national economic security, falsely understood national and state interests, the country finds itself in a dead end of economic isolation. Repeatedly made in the past (for example, under totalitarian regimes) attempts to live independently of the world community did not lead to success. In modern conditions, when mutual dependence is strengthened by the deepening internationalization of economic ties, the all-encompassing nature scientific and technological revolution, the fundamentally new role of the media and communications, it is impossible for the economy to function effectively in conditions of autarky - national economic self-sufficiency. Under these conditions, tendencies towards isolationism, towards national or group autarchy, no matter how noble political slogans are covered, are futile.

Indicators characterizing the degree of a country's involvement in world economic relations, its role in the world economy, can be such as the export quota - the ratio of the value of exports to the value of gross domestic product (GDP), the volume of exports per capita, the structure of exports and imports, the volume external debt in relation to GDP, volume foreign investment etc. On their basis, one can judge not only the degree of "openness" of the economy, but also the level of economic development of the country.

Globalization of the world economy

World economic relations originate in world trade, which has gone from single foreign trade transactions to long-term large-scale trade and economic cooperation, when deliveries are carried out within the framework of industrial cooperation carried out by international corporations. The foreign trade exchange of goods is the most important component of world economic relations.

At the same time, the rapid growth of world economic relations occurs at a time when the mobility of factors of production increases - capital outgrows national borders,

Chapter 19. International Aspects of Economic Development

the migration of labor is intensifying, the processes of formation of the international division of labor are accelerating. This indicates that the internationalization of economic relations is largely due to the logic of the development of productive forces, which, outgrowing the national framework, objectively lead first to the need for the internationalization of production, and then lead to the globalization of the world economy, when the boundaries between internal and external factors economic growth, and production itself begins to act as a "single world conveyor" - international production that creates an international product. National economies, while remaining completely independent economic entities, increasingly unify the forms and rules of international interaction in the economic sphere. Moreover, such unification is manifested in the interaction of all subjects of the world economy, which include:

- national economies;

- regional associations and unions of states;

- international trade, financial and other organizations;

- international and transnational corporations.

International division of labor

The objective basis for the formation of the world economy is the social division of labor. world economy took shape as an integral system at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The history of its formation is inseparable from the history of the industrial revolution. Before the machine stage, the international division of labor was based on its natural basis - differences in the natural and climatic conditions of countries, in their geographical position, resources and energy sources. Starting from the machine stage, the dependence of specialization and cooperation on a natural basis is greatly reduced. The stage of industrial growth is characterized by the dependence of specialization on the development of the actual technological factor.

From the industrial stage begins the process of gradual shifting of the center of gravity of world economic relations from the sphere of circulation to the sphere of production. And as a consequence, it is now difficult to find a large branch of the national economy that would not depend on international conditions of production. Sphere of the international division of labor

Section IV. International economic relations

directly covers all the structural components of the social division of labor. International exchange mediates a general division of labor between large sectors of the economy (industry, Agriculture), private - between the areas of these areas and the individual, deepening the subject, technological and detailed specialization. The division of labor at the international level is deepening and shows greater promise than at the national level.

Integration and transnational facts of economic rapprochement

The transition in the 60-80s of the developed countries to a new technological base, with the predominance of pervasive information technologies, was accompanied by a rapid growth in world economic relations. The internationalization of reproduction processes has intensified, and in both its forms - both integration (through rapprochement, mutual adaptation of national economies) and transnational (through the creation of interethnic production complexes).

Thus, throughout the world there is a steady trend towards regional intercountry integration. In the most developed European integration community (EU), in the near future, it is planned to complete the creation of a “single economic space”, within which free movement of goods, services and labor will be carried out.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are aiming to create a North American common economic space. Andean Common Market Bolivia, Vene Zuela, Colombia, Peru are considered as prospects. The strengthening of interstate integration is typical for the countries of Southeast Asia, the Arab world, Africa and Central America.

The internationalization of production is deepening even more intensively as a result of private capitalist interstate integration tendencies. To the share of transnational corporations, perhaps the most common market structures in the world economy in the 80s, accounted for more than 1/7 of the global production of goods and services. Transnational reproductive structures in many ways contribute to the strengthening of the globalization of the world economy, uniting national economies not so much geographically (common borders), but on the basis of deeper reproductive ties.

Chapter 19. International Aspects of Economic Development

Q Structure of the world economy

The most important forms of world economic relations are as follows:

- international trade in goods and services;

- movement of capital and foreign investments;

- labor migration;

- intercountry cooperation of production;

- exchange in science and technology;

- monetary and credit relations.

Approximately in the same sequence: from trade to the export of capital, the formation of international production and world financial market- was the formation of the world economy. Moreover, the forms that appeared earlier than others act as the basis for the development of the following ones and themselves change under the influence of the forms of international economic relations that arise in the course of the evolution of the world economy. Thus, the export of capital now often paves the way for the export of goods and the like.

Although various forms of international economic relations develop in interaction, the implementation of each of them has its own specifics, which allows us to speak of them as components of the structure of the world economy. The structure of the world economy includes the world markets for goods and services, capital, labor, the international monetary system, the international credit and financial system, the field of exchange in the field of science, technology and information, international tourism and etc.

World Infrastructure

The ever-increasing movement of goods, labor, and financial assets across national borders is accelerating the development and improvement of the world's infrastructure. Along with the extremely important transport system(sea, river, air, rail transport), the global network of information communications is becoming increasingly important for the development of the world economy. It is hardly possible to overestimate the importance of the information infrastructure already due to the fact that one of the root causes of the radical transformations in the world community that the scientific and technological progress brings with it was the emergence of automated systems processing, storage and transmission of information. Combination of microprocessors, electronics, computer systems using communication satellites and sophisticated software

Section IV. International economic relations

led to revolutionary changes in the economic and social life of society: from commercial computer networks, which, being connected to computers, allow customers to use credit cards, make cashless purchases and conduct Bank operations at a distance, to intercontinental telecommunication networks. The process of forming a single scientific and information space is becoming more and more significant.

International exchange is increasingly shifting from forms of relations materialized in goods (“visible trade”) to non-materialized ones, i.e. to an increase in the exchange of scientific and technical achievements, production and management experience, and other types of services (“invisible trade”). UNCTAD estimates that services account for 46% of global GNP. Their volume is also growing noticeably in international exchange, in particular, such a component as “intangible” information capital: databases, software, organizational knowledge, etc.

The development of information infrastructure depends on the level of industrial development. But the competitiveness of the industry itself is increasingly determined by the information component. The information situation in the country, the connection to the channels of the world information communication networks began to largely determine the role and place of the country in the international division of labor and in the world economy.

Scientific and technical progress and structure of exports

The deepening of the international division of labor is based on intense competition, in which one of the most important arguments is the comparison of the scientific potentials and technological capabilities of the parties involved. It is no coincidence that R&D accounts for 1/5 of all investments in the United States, and up to 40% of the entire manufacturing industry is produced in a complex of knowledge-intensive industries. Japan ranks second in the world in terms of R&D spending after the United States.

The modern world order is largely determined by the existing division of technological power. And as a result, the reality of international specialization is such a division of labor, when the export of science-intensive goods (in which R&D costs are high)

Chapter 19. International Aspects of Economic Development

developed countries. In the export of resource-, labor- and capital-intensive goods, the manufacture of which often pollutes the environment, specialize developing countries, and some of them still remain in the conditions of monocultural raw material specialization.

It is known that such specialization is often associated with the fact that raw materials are one of the few types of products that can be competitive even at a technically backward level of production. Since the structure of Russian exports is currently dominated by raw materials, it should be noted that the income from the export of raw materials is extremely unstable. One reason for this volatility is that the demand for these goods is inelastic, whereby its fluctuations lead to changes in prices and incomes.

However, the need to adapt to the changing needs of the world market, to be included in the system of the international division of labor is a non-alternative development option. And when the disadvantages of the international division of labor outweigh the advantages in one country or another, the task is to find ways to resolve the emerging contradictions, to find ways to adapt national economies to the trends of the world economy, in particular, to develop and implement a reasonable export strategy.

Export strategy and goals of Russia

Many countries have gone through the process of restructuring their export structure. AT late XIX in. the bulk of US exports were cotton, wheat, and other agricultural commodities. By the beginning of the First World War, the country had already mainly exported finished products, while remaining a major supplier of raw materials. The most striking example is provided by the post-war development of Japan, which has turned in a relatively short time from a post-feudal country into a technological giant. But, perhaps, more importantly, its path, in turn, is followed by the NIS of Southeast Asia and Latin America - from labor-intensive products (textiles) to material-intensive products (metals), then to manufacturing products and science-intensive goods. Yes, in the 70s South Korea exported textiles, other labor-intensive goods and simple machinery to the United States. And by the beginning of the 90s, this country accounted for 3% of sales in the US car market (for comparison, Japan's share was 19%, Western Europe's 4-5%).

Economic policy is a set of certain measures taken by public authorities that contribute to the implementation of various economic decisions at the macroeconomic level. The conduct of economic policy by the state is aimed at achieving certain goals that play important role for society. The main directions of economic policy depend on the economic condition of the state on this moment. These economic directions should be the basis for decision making. With any method of state influence on the country's economy, there is a desire to achieve economic goals in a short time and at the lowest cost.

The implementation of economic policy is possible only with the implementation of coordinated and correct measures and actions that create a system of state influence on the country's economy. The influence of the state on the economy is controversial. This impact can positively affect the market mechanism, for example, resolve economic disputes and protect property rights, or negatively. The negative impact can be seen in the imbalance in market mechanism and the emergence of contradictions. Many countries prefer a mixed type of economy, in which there is little government influence (eg, tax and monetary policy, antitrust measures) with little intervention in the market mechanism.

Methods of direct and indirect influence

Usually, experts distinguish several types of classification of ways to conduct economic policy by the state. These classifications depend on the characteristics by which the definition is made. Ways to implement economic policy are divided into measures of indirect and direct impact on the economy of the state.

Direct influence methods are a method of state influence in which economic decisions must be based on the decisions of the legislature or the government. These methods include the law on taxes, operations related to the state budget and others. The main advantage of direct impact methods is the speed and accuracy in achieving the result. The disadvantage of such methods is the violation of the free operation of the market mechanism, which as a result can lead to a violation of the proportions in macroeconomics.

Methods of indirect influence consist in the fact that the state cannot directly intervene in economic system. The state can set boundaries for economic decisions and create prescriptions that will remind that when making decisions that affect the economy, it is best to follow the directions of economic policy.

The main advantage of indirect influence is the absence of interference in the market mechanism, which does not create a violation of proportions in macroeconomics. The disadvantages include a long time for the perception and implementation of government decisions and policy results.

Administrative, economic, institutional methods

One of the important classifications of methods of state influence is the classification according to the organizational and institutional criterion. The main types of classification include administrative, institutional and economic methods of state policy.

Administrative measures are based on the legal infrastructure. Administrative methods are aimed at ensuring and maintaining a stable legal social environment, protecting the competitive environment, protecting property rights, maintaining the possibility of free economic choice, and so on.

Administrative measures are divided into prohibitive, permissive and coercive measures.

Economic measures are the impact of the state on the economy with the help of certain levers. These measures include the impact on the formation of supply and demand, the level of budget centralization, the formation economic structures and basics.

Economic measures include monetary (financial) policy (especially fiscal policy), macroeconomic planning and economic forecasts, monetary policy (monetary).

Institutional methods of influence include such state influence, which ensures the development, maintenance and emergence of the main institutions of society. These institutions include the institution of law, the institution of property, and others.

Economic regulation system

The implementation of economic policy is possible only with the use of a set of measures, tools that form the mechanism of state influence on the economy. Knowledge of the structure of these measures is required to be able to use them rationally. Depending on the selected criteria, there are several options for their classification. In particular, according to the method of functioning, methods of direct and indirect influence on the economy are distinguished.

As an example, let's name the tax legislation, legal rules in the field of depreciation, budgetary procedures for public investment. Direct methods often have a high degree of effect due to the rapid achievement of economic results. However, they have a serious drawback - the creation of obstacles to the market process.

Methods of indirect influence are manifested in the fact that the state does not directly influence the decisions made by the subjects of the economy. It only creates the preconditions for subjects to gravitate toward those options that correspond to the goals of economic policy when they make their own choice of economic decisions.

Let us now turn to another, very important classification of the considered methods. The approach criterion is organizational and institutional. This list includes: administrative, economic, institutional methods (Fig. 18.5).

Administrative measures

Rice. 18.5. System of economic policy instruments

Administrative measures, in turn, are divided into measures of prohibition, permission, coercion.

The degree of activity in the application of administrative measures may vary depending on the area of the economy. They are now manifesting themselves most persistently in the field of environmental protection, as well as in the field of social protection of the poorly provided sections of the population.

In the Russian economy, there are two trends in relation to administrative methods:

As a result of the aggravated political confrontation between power structures, the effectiveness of administrative measures has significantly decreased;

The legacy of the era of the command economy led to a well-known setback in relation to administrative levers. The turn of the economy towards a market system gave rise to a natural desire to renounce them. As a result of the pendulum effect, the withdrawal turned out to be excessively strong.

Economic measures

Financial (budgetary, fiscal) policy;

Monetary (monetary) policy;

Programming;

Forecasting.

The concept of "financial policy" is a capacious category. It reflects two approaches. On the one hand, it is a mechanism for implementing the goals of economic policy. On the other hand, the implementation of financial measures is one of the constituent elements of the general economic policy as such.

The category "monetary policy" has a similar multifaceted character. Compared to financial measures, monetary measures are more of an indirect impact. This is due, for example, to the fact that the financial policy is carried out primarily by the Ministry of Finance - an integral part of the government. Monetary policy is implemented by the Central Bank, which, as a rule, has relative independence from the legislative and executive authorities.

In the conditions of the current market economy, it is customary, as a rule, to first consider the possibility of monetary measures, and then - financial ones. This is due to the fact that the use of monetary policy to a greater extent reflects the typical ratio of the market and state principles in the economy. A mature national economy mainly involves the indirect impact of the state on economic entities. This preserves the freedom to make private economic decisions.

In the conditions of a transforming economy (or in the event of a crisis), the ratio of methods may be different. The financial (ie direct) aspect of regulation is sometimes brought to the fore.

Drawing up programs and forecasts mainly reflects the indirect version of state regulation. The programs are advisory in nature for the private sector. This process is focused mainly on providing the business community with important economic information. In both cases (when drawing up programs - in a more active form), the state can indirectly suggest and encourage entrepreneurs to take action. However, businessmen make their own decisions about them.

Institutional Measures

Describing the methods of state influence, one can also emphasize their organizational and institutional form.

The concept of "institutional" is relatively little used in domestic scientific circulation. It is perceived even weaker, unfortunately, by the economic thinking of the population. Meanwhile, the development of the economy in the market-legal version puts forward the need for a much more active use of this term. It reflects the fact that the phenomena of economic life in a developed legal state lose their random character. A network of certain legal, ethical, psychological, organizational norms and customs is, as it were, superimposed on the surface of economic reality. Economic policy itself is a system of organizationally formalized actions and traditions.

Among the options for the distribution of institutional forms in modern conditions, we note:

Formation of executive structures of state power, the immediate task of which is the practical implementation of the goals of the government;

Creating and Maintaining Objects state property, i.e. public sector;

Preparation of economic programs and economic forecasts;

Support for economic research centers (having different forms of ownership), economic information institutions, chambers of commerce and industry, various economic councils and unions;

Ensuring the functioning of institutions of advisers, consultants, expert councils on economic problems;

Legal, informational support for business and trade unions, rational forms of their interaction;

Participation in the creation of forms of economic integration, organization of regular international meetings on economic issues(for example, representatives of the G7 group).

The institutional aspect of state regulation in Russia has always manifested itself with certain specifics. It was implemented in domestic practice mainly in the form of creating a large number of institutions themselves and, to a lesser extent, legal institutions. Suffice it to recall that in the conditions of the USSR there were about 900 ministries, departments, and departments. In the present period, changes are taking place in the former accents of the institutional approach.

Financial mechanism of economic policy

Finance is one of the most complex categories in economics. In general, this is a set of cost flows associated with the distribution and use of monetary resources. In the traditional course of domestic economic science, it was customary to understand “finance” as a system of production relations, rather than the movement of funds itself.

The process of functioning of the financial system to fulfill certain goals at the state level is a financial policy. This concept is multifaceted. The regulation of macroeconomic equilibrium, the achievement of stabilization with the help of revenues and expenditures is commonly called "fiscal policy". Using financial resources, the state also participates in solving other problems, for example, social distribution. The full range of all tasks carried out through public finance forms the category of "financial policy" (one of the elements of which, therefore, is fiscal policy).

What are government spending? Under this term, it is customary to understand the costs of the state for the acquisition of material goods and services related to the satisfaction of public needs. The main objective of spending policy is to influence aggregate demand. This effect is quite direct.

In economic theory, the question is posed: for the production and supply of what goods should the state spend money? Before answering, we should once again emphasize the socio-political idea on which the economy is based. The optimal production of goods is mainly ensured by the market system itself. And only in case of failure of the mechanism of the market system, the state intervenes in the process. At the same time, the development of a market economy has formed the following pattern: the state spends funds on the creation of mainly public (public) goods (primarily of a social nature) and eliminates negative external effects arising from the consumption of a number of private goods (for example, by implementing measures to restore the environment) .

By “government revenues” it is customary to understand current money and property transfers (transfer) from the private sector to the state. The transfer of funds can be carried out on the basis of the receipt of counter services or without any reimbursement. The objectives of income policy can be summarized in two groups:

Collection of funds for the formation of a financial fund, with the help of which it is possible to influence the macroeconomic balance;

Achieving a regulatory effect through the very technique of withdrawing resources (for example, manipulating tax rates).

Forms of receiving state revenues

There are various forms and methods of accumulation of state revenues. In the most general form, the collection of funds is usually divided into tax and non-tax revenues. The latter include fees and charges. The most developed form of compulsory withdrawal of funds (without opposition of a counter service) is represented by taxes. This is the most important source of state funds. Through taxes, developed countries mobilize from 18-21% of GDP in Japan and the United States, up to 37% in Sweden and up to 50% in Denmark.

In general, the tax system as a set of forms and methods of collecting funds is a complex phenomenon. It contains a deep contradiction: on the one hand, it is necessary to ensure the withdrawal of sufficiently solid financial resources from economic entities, and on the other hand, to prevent a decrease in their business activity. The solution to this paradox is carried out through a reasonable compromise.

The tax system achieves rationality, according to the German economist X. Haller, if the following conditions are met:

Taxation should be structured in such a way that the state's costs for its implementation are as low as possible (orientation to the so-called "principle of cheap taxation");

The collection of taxes should ensure that the taxpayer's costs associated with the payment procedure are as low as possible (the principle of cheapness in paying taxes);

The payment of taxes should be as little as possible a tangible burden for the taxpayer in order not to infringe on his economic activity (the principle of limiting the burden of taxes);

Taxation should not be an obstacle either to the "internal" rational organization of production, or to its orientation to the structure of needs, i.e. "external" rationality;

The process of obtaining taxes should be organized in such a way that it can contribute to the greatest extent (through the accumulated financial resources) to the implementation of the policy of the conjuncture and employment (opportunistic efficiency);

This process should influence the distribution of income in order to make it more fair (distributive efficiency);

In the process of determining the “tax solvency” of individuals and clarifying settlements with them, it should be minimally required to provide information that affects the private life of citizens (respect for the private sphere);

It should be ensured that the combination of taxes forms a single system in which each tax has its own specific purpose. At the same time, neither mutual "overlapping" of taxes, nor the presence of "hatchholes" between them (internal isolation) should be allowed.

Stabilizing role of taxes

In a market economy, taxes automatically play an important stabilizing role. According to the definition of the German economist F. Neumark, the concept of "automatic stabilizer" (or "built-in flexibility") is a counter-cyclical internal adjustment of the state budget, which manifests itself automatically, without any measures, and follows from the nature of certain incomes or expenses.

The process of countercyclical adjustment of taxes is as follows. In the event of an overheating of the conjuncture, there is an increase in the volume of national income. In the presence of a progressively constructed scale of taxation, the amount of payments to the budget increases, which has a restraining effect on further economic activity. In addition, the increased volume of the state budget makes it possible, with the help of social policy means, to raise the consumption level of the low-income strata and thereby increase aggregate demand, bringing it closer to the increased aggregate supply. In conditions of falling market conditions, the opposite occurs.

However, in order for the process of automatic adjustment to take place, a prerequisite is a high degree of reaction of the tax system to the conjuncture. Different taxes have different degrees of market elasticity. In turn, this is due to the methods of constructing tax rates, the very basis (i.e., the object of taxation), as well as the technique of levying taxes.

Those taxes that automatically follow the course of the conjuncture, due to the basis on which they are built (income, turnover, profit, etc.) have increased anticyclical properties. Since in developed industrial countries the core of the tax system is taxes on income, profits and turnover, these tax systems have a high degree of market elasticity.

In connection with the above, in financial theory it is customary to use the indicator of elasticity of tax revenues. It is calculated as a ratio:

Percentage (or absolute) change in tax revenue / percentage (or absolute) change in national income *100

In the German economy, for example, the degree of tax response is 1.5. This means that a 1% increase or decrease in national income results in a 1.5% increase or decrease in tax revenue.

General conclusion: the degree of reaction of the entire tax system to the situation depends on the specific weight in it of certain types of taxes. It is believed that the system has an effective market-stabilizing effect when its elasticity level is equal to 1. This happens if the value of income and corporate taxes in the tax system is sufficiently high.

Table 18.1 Taxation rates in various OECD countries and in Russia (1997,%)

Speaking about the impact of tax policy on general economic indicators, one economic aspect should be taken into account. This is the so-called "lag effect". This phenomenon is expressed in the fact that it takes a certain time for the intervention of financial policy to be able to cause the expected change in the economy.

The degree of the regulatory role of taxes is affected - and rather ambiguously - by another circumstance. In the process of paying taxes, there are cases of economic entities avoiding taxation. Underpayment of taxes can occur in two ways: in legal and illegal forms. The legal option involves the use by the taxpayer of systems of benefits or a certain degree of conditionality of regulatory prescriptions (real life, as you know, is always more complicated than any prescription made in the form of a certain generalized scheme).

Summing up the characteristics of the financial mechanism, we note that a high degree of built-in flexibility of the financial system is considered desirable for the economy. Built-in financial stabilizers have the positive aspect that they make an accurate diagnosis and forecast of the market situation not so necessary. At the same time, the advantages of built-in stabilizers should not lead to an overestimation of their capabilities. These stabilizers, as a rule, soften market fluctuations, but cannot completely prevent them.

Credit mechanism of economic policy

In the process of economic regulation, the state widely uses monetary measures. Like the financial mechanism, they have a dual aspect of expression. On the one hand, it is an integral part of the whole complex of economic policy. At the same time, credit regulation acts as a kind of instrument of state intervention in the economy.

In terms of its content, credit policy is a set of measures of the Central Bank in the field of money circulation and credit in terms of their impact on the macroeconomic process. The purpose of these measures acts as a partial refraction of the general state line aimed at ensuring an equilibrium and sustainable development of the economy.

The subject of credit policy is the Central Bank (CB). According to the law, it fulfills the goals of the government, but at the same time, as a rule, it is not a government institution. The Central Bank has a certain degree of independence. Such rights are given to him on the basis of the principle of separation of powers. As the experience of Western countries shows, this institution, which has relative independence, is not an uncomplaining executor of the will of the state. In a difficult economic situation, the government cannot demand that the credit center solve its financial problems by issuing additional amount money supply.

The set of tasks of the Central Bank in the implementation of economic policy contains two directions. The first is to provide the national economy with a full-fledged monetary system. A stable currency is an essential element of the market infrastructure. The second direction is related to the fact that the Central Bank is assigned the function of influencing lending activity private business (commercial) banks in the interests of macroeconomic policy. In the sphere of monetary circulation, the state pursues its policy, thus using cooperation with this accomplice of regulation. A kind of tandem is formed: "the state - the central bank." Practice shows the high efficiency of this cooperation.

Tools

Operating in the field of monetary circulation, the Central Bank uses a number of tools. Most of them have an indirect impact. This is an analogy to the general principles of the state's action in the economy. However, some operations of the credit center can also be carried out in a more direct way (a similar example is government subsidies).

In general, the structure of the measures taken by the Central Bank can be represented by the following scheme (Fig. 18.6).

Rice. 18.6. Credit policy of the Central Bank

The method of limiting the dynamics of lending lies in the fact that in some countries (England, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands) the Central Bank has the right to limit the degree of growth in credit investments of business banks in the non-banking sector. For this purpose, a percentage rate for the expansion of credit operations for a certain period of time is introduced. If the conditions are not met, the Central Bank applies sanctions: banks may be required to pay penalty interest or (as is customary in Switzerland) to transfer to an interest-free account of the Central Bank an amount equal to the amount of the excess loan.

Accounting (discount) policy refers to long-used methods of regulation. The Central Bank acts as a creditor in relation to business banks. Funds are provided subject to the rediscount of bills of banks and secured by their securities. Such funds obtained in the central credit link are called "rediscount" or "lombard" loans. Based on the law, the Central Bank has the right to manipulate the interest rate at which it issues loans to banks. The possibility of establishing the "price" of the loan acts as a method of influencing the credit system.

Resorting to such a type of regulation as "open market operations", the Central Bank buys and sells securities (for example, on the stock exchange). By selling them, the bank essentially withdraws excess balance sheet reserves of commercial banks. In macroeconomic terms, this means the withdrawal of a certain amount of money from circulation. The purchase of securities by the Central Bank contributes to the formation of additional balance reserves from commercial banks. The money supply in circulation increases. As a result, the opportunities for credit operations of business banks are expanding.

The policy of minimum reserves ensures the obligatory storage of certain sums of money of business banks in the accounts of the Central Bank. Thus, banks receive a certain element of insurance from the side of the Central Bank when fulfilling their obligations. This method was first introduced in the US economy in 1933.

The set of regulatory measures is complemented by a system of so-called "voluntary agreements" concluded between the Central Bank and business banks. Such agreements are especially convenient when the Central Bank must make prompt decisions, act quickly and without much bureaucracy.

Problems of practical implementation of credit policy

The greatest effectiveness of the regulatory action of the Central Bank is manifested when the entire set of economic instruments, and in the correct order. In influencing macroeconomic regulation, the Central Bank must take into account both the interrelationships national economy within the framework of the world economy (on the currency line), and the interdependence of the links of the national economy. In particular, we are talking about the following problematic situations.

1. Accounting policy affects not only banks, but also other sectors of the economy. The negative impact of interest fluctuations is manifested in relation to those areas of the national economy that are burdened with debts. These include: the public sector, capital-intensive industries (nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power plants), rail transport, households, and farming.

2. Interest policy leads to a growing price effect. Economic entities tend to get out of the influence of the growing discount rate by shifting their costs onto the shoulders of clients (increasing, accordingly, the price of their securities). As a result, an additional difficulty is created for the state policy in the field of curbing inflation.

In the context of the Russian economy, which is currently experiencing significant problems with inflation, this side effect is especially painful. The private sector seeks to transfer to the buyer all the additional burden that falls on him as a result of regulatory measures. The possibility of such financial resourcefulness in Russia is higher, since the degree of market saturation and competition is weaker than it is in the developed countries of the West.

Conducting economic regulation with the help of a financial or credit mechanism raises an important question for economists: in what situation is this or that option more optimal? Another problem is this: what ratio of financial and credit measures is reasonable to practice in the economy?

The predominance of financial measures in the course of regulation is usually called the "Keynesian" option for conducting economic policy. Greater emphasis on the monetary mechanism was called "monetarism" in economic science. The practice of implementing economic policy in Western countries has shown that the most rational is a combination of both directions of regulation. However, within its framework, there is always an alternating fluctuation in the direction of strengthening one or another method, depending on the state of the economic situation.

Describing the methods of state influence, one can also emphasize their organizational and institutional form.

The concept of "institutional" is relatively little used in domestic scientific circulation.

It is perceived even weaker, unfortunately, by the economic thinking of the population. Meanwhile, the development of the economy in the market-legal version puts forward the need for a much more active use of this term. It reflects the fact that the phenomena of economic life in a developed legal state lose their random character. Certain legal, ethical, psychological, organizational norms and customs seem to be layered on the surface of economic reality.

Economic policy itself is a system of institutionalized measures and traditions. Such actions related to

relatively long-term phenomenon, create the concept of "institution". According to American economist W. Hamilton, "institutions are a verbal symbol for the best description of a group of social customs. They mean the prevailing and permanent way of thinking or acting, which has become a habit for a social group or a custom for a people."

As an example, let's name "institute of law", "institute of property". The use of the term in this sense differs somewhat, of course, from the options designated, for example, as "research institute" or "institute of noble maidens". It was the last cases of the use of this term that were more typical in domestic lexical practice.

The emphasis on the organizational and legal nature allows us to isolate some additional features of state regulation methods:

* the formation of executive structures of state power, the immediate task of which is the practical implementation of the goals of the government;

* creation and maintenance of state property objects, i.е. public sector;

* preparation of economic programs and economic forecasts;

* support for economic research centers (having different forms of ownership), economic information institutions, chambers of commerce and industry, various economic councils and unions;

* ensuring the functioning of institutions of advisers, consultants, expert councils on economic problems;

* legal, informational support for business and trade unions, rational forms of their interaction;

* participation in the creation of forms of economic integration, organization of regular international meetings on economic issues (for example, representatives of the G7 group).

A clear example of the manifestation of the institutional form of state measures is the practice that exists in Germany. This country is characterized by the special importance of legal norms and traditions in the economic sphere. A typical manifestation is, first of all, the punctual degree of development of the system of economic law.

Attention is drawn to the government's support for a system of clear and reasonable interaction between the two largest public institutions: associations of entrepreneurs and trade unions. Well developed and very effective system government controlled- through a combination of a small number of ministries (currently 16 such departments). The experience of the state's support on a system consisting of 6 research economic institutes and the Council of Experts (called by journalists the "council of five wise men") is very successful.

Economic regulation system

Methods of indirect influence are manifested in the fact that the state does not directly influence the decisions made by the subjects of the economy. It only creates the preconditions for subjects to gravitate toward those options that correspond to the goals of economic policy when they make their own choice of economic decisions.

Administrative measures

Rice. 18.5. System of economic policy instruments

Administrative measures, in turn, are divided into measures of prohibition, permission, coercion.

In the Russian economy, there are two trends in relation to administrative methods:

As a result of the aggravated political confrontation between power structures, the effectiveness of administrative measures has significantly decreased;

Economic measures

Financial (budgetary, fiscal) policy;

Monetary (monetary) policy;

Programming;

Forecasting.

In the conditions of the current market economy, it is customary, as a rule, to first consider the possibility of monetary measures, and then - financial ones. This is due to the fact that the use of monetary policy to a greater extent reflects the typical ratio of the market and state principles in the economy. A mature national economy mainly involves the indirect impact of the state on economic entities. This preserves the freedom to make private economic decisions.

In the conditions of a transforming economy (or in the event of a crisis), the ratio of methods may be different. The financial (ie direct) aspect of regulation is sometimes brought to the fore.

Institutional Measures

Describing the methods of state influence, one can also emphasize their organizational and institutional form.

Among the options for the distribution of institutional forms in modern conditions, we note:

Formation of executive structures of state power, the immediate task of which is the practical implementation of the goals of the government;

Creation and maintenance of state property objects, i.e. public sector;

Preparation of economic programs and economic forecasts;

Support for economic research centers (having different forms of ownership), economic information institutions, chambers of commerce and industry, various economic councils and unions;

Ensuring the functioning of institutions of advisers, consultants, expert councils on economic problems;

Legal, informational support for business and trade unions, rational forms of their interaction;

Participation in the creation of forms of economic integration, organization of regular international meetings on economic issues (for example, representatives of the G7 group).

Financial mechanism of economic policy

Collection of funds for the formation of a financial fund, with the help of which it is possible to influence the macroeconomic balance;

Achieving a regulatory effect through the very technique of withdrawing resources (for example, manipulating tax rates).

Forms of receiving state revenues

The tax system achieves rationality, according to the German economist X. Haller, if the following conditions are met:

Taxation should be structured in such a way that the state's costs for its implementation are as low as possible (orientation to the so-called "principle of cheap taxation");

The collection of taxes should ensure that the taxpayer's costs associated with the payment procedure are as low as possible (the principle of cheapness in paying taxes);

The payment of taxes should be as little as possible a tangible burden for the taxpayer in order not to infringe on his economic activity (the principle of limiting the burden of taxes);

Taxation should not be an obstacle either to the "internal" rational organization of production, or to its orientation to the structure of needs, i.e. "external" rationality;

This process should influence the distribution of income in order to make it more fair (distributive efficiency);

Stabilizing role of taxes

Those taxes that automatically follow the course of the conjuncture, due to the basis on which they are built (income, turnover, profit, etc.) have increased anticyclical properties. Since in developed industrial countries the core of the tax system is taxes on income, profits and turnover, these tax systems have a high degree of market elasticity.

In connection with the above, in financial theory it is customary to use the indicator of elasticity of tax revenues. It is calculated as a ratio:

Percentage (or absolute) change in tax revenue / percentage (or absolute) change in national income *100

In the German economy, for example, the degree of tax response is 1.5. This means that a 1% increase or decrease in national income results in a 1.5% increase or decrease in tax revenue.

Table 18.1 Taxation rates in various OECD countries and in Russia (1997,%)

Summing up the characteristics of the financial mechanism, we note that a high degree of built-in flexibility of the financial system is considered desirable for the economy. Built-in financial stabilizers have the positive aspect that they make an accurate diagnosis and forecast of the market situation not so necessary. At the same time, the advantages of built-in stabilizers should not lead to an overestimation of their capabilities. These stabilizers, as a rule, soften market fluctuations, but cannot completely prevent them.

Credit mechanism of economic policy

The subject of credit policy is the Central Bank (CB). According to the law, it fulfills the goals of the government, but at the same time, as a rule, it is not a government institution. The Central Bank has a certain degree of independence. Such rights are given to him on the basis of the principle of separation of powers. As the experience of Western countries shows, this institution, which has relative independence, is not an uncomplaining executor of the will of the state. In a difficult economic situation, the government cannot demand that the credit center solve its financial problems by issuing additional money supply.

The set of tasks of the Central Bank in the implementation of economic policy contains two directions. The first is to provide the national economy with a full-fledged monetary system. A stable currency is an essential element of the market infrastructure. The second direction is related to the fact that the Central Bank is assigned the function of influencing the credit activities of private business (commercial) banks in the interests of macroeconomic policy. In the sphere of monetary circulation, the state pursues its policy, thus using cooperation with this accomplice of regulation. A kind of tandem is formed: "the state - the central bank." Practice shows the high efficiency of this cooperation.

Tools

In general, the structure of the measures taken by the Central Bank can be represented by the following scheme (Fig. 18.6).

Rice. 18.6. Credit policy of the Central Bank

Resorting to such a type of regulation as "open market operations", the Central Bank buys and sells securities (for example, on the stock exchange). By selling them, the bank essentially withdraws excess balance sheet reserves of commercial banks. In macroeconomic terms, this means the withdrawal of a certain amount of money from circulation. The purchase of securities by the Central Bank contributes to the formation of additional balance reserves from commercial banks. The money supply in circulation increases. As a result, the opportunities for credit operations of business banks are expanding.

Problems of practical implementation of credit policy

The greatest effectiveness of the regulatory action of the Central Bank is manifested when the entire set of economic instruments is used, and in an appropriate sequence. In influencing macroeconomic regulation, the Central Bank must take into account both the interconnections of the national economy within the world economy (on the currency line) and the interdependence of the links of the national economy. In particular, we are talking about the following problematic situations.

Conducting economic regulation with the help of a financial or credit mechanism raises an important question for economists: in what situation is this or that option more optimal? Another problem is this: what ratio of financial and credit measures is reasonable to practice in the economy?

Institutes of state economic policy. State economic policy instruments

§ 4. Tools economic policy states

Methods of direct and indirect influence

Administrative, economic, institutional methods