Papers by Vladimir Yefimov
![Research paper thumbnail of Continuité et recomposition des régimes agraires russes dans le siècle [Continuity and reconstitution of Russian agrarian regimes during a century]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/115916527/thumbnails/1.jpg)
MPRA Paper, 2001
Les trois institutions principales agraires russes sont présentes en Russie à partir de XVIe sièc... more Les trois institutions principales agraires russes sont présentes en Russie à partir de XVIe siècle jusqu'à nos jours, en se transformant mais en conservant un « noyau dur ». Ce sont le domaine, l'exploitation paysanne, et la communauté rurale. Les transformations de ces institutions se passent selon le cycle suivant : idéologie, législation et fonctionnement des institutions. Au début ainsi qu'à la fin de 20 ème siècle, les réformes agraires russes étaient fondées sur l'idéologie libérale, mais dans les deux cas elles ont été rejetées par la persistance du noyau dur. The three principal Russian agrarian institutions are present in Russia beginning from the XVIth century up to now, undergoing transformations but preserving a "hard core". They are the estate, the peasant farm and the rural community. Transformations of these institutions take place according to the following cycle: ideology, legislation and functioning of institutions. At the beginning as well as at the end of the 20 th century, Russian agrarian reforms were based on liberal ideology, but in both cases they were rejected by the persistence of the hard core. L'analyse de la réforme agraire russe des années 1990 est principalement basée sur les différentes enquêtes effectuées par l'auteur de 1995 à 2000 dans le cadre de projets du programme Tacis de l'Union Européenne.
Journal of Institutional Studies (Журнал институциональных исследований), 2013
![Research paper thumbnail of Constructivisme social, évolution de la profession d’économiste, et projet pour sa réforme radicale [Social constructivism, Evolution of the economics profession, and design for its radical reform]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/115916526/thumbnails/1.jpg)
MPRA Paper, 2014
This paper proposes to reconsider the methodology (in the first part of the paper) and the histor... more This paper proposes to reconsider the methodology (in the first part of the paper) and the history (in the second part of the paper) of economics on the basis of the constructivist institutionalism practiced at present in political science (Hay, 2006). In this kind of institutionalism, actors are both strategic and socialized (Ibid., p. 58), their actions are oriented to success and at the same time to reaching understanding of others (Habermas, 1984). The constructivist institutionalism considers interests as social constructions and thus interests "cannot serve as proxies for material factors" (Hay, 2006, p. 64). Actors' desires, preferences, and motivations "are irredeemably ideational, reflecting a normative (indeed moral, ethical, and political) orientation towards the context in which they will have to be realized" (Ibid., p. 63-64). The constructivist institutionalism stress attention on the ideational foundations of institutions. According to it, ideas can exert an independent path dependent effect on the development of institutions. At last but not the least, in the framework of the constructivist institutionalist paradigm, institutions are considered to be "the subject and focus of political struggle" (Ibid., p. 64), the distribution of power influences the institutional
The article shows that mainstream economics, which now includes such current as new institutional... more The article shows that mainstream economics, which now includes such current as new institutional economics, is the result of an evolution shaped by three institutions (capitalism, university and mathematics) by imposing to the profession of economists their founding beliefs. These beliefs are: «laissez-faire»; «economic knowledge has a priori and exegetical character»; «all mathematical entities exist in reality»; «beauty is a criterion for theoretical constructions»; «scientific research is a play with axioms and rules of inference». Because of these beliefs mainstream economics, based on mathematical constructions arbitrarily borrowed from the physics of the nineteenth century, remains cognitively sterile and socially detrimental.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Sep 1, 2009
MPRA Paper, 2014
Новые исследоваНия по региоНальНой экоНомике ЭКОНОМИКА РЕГИОНА № 2 (2015) WWW.ECONOMYOFREGION.COM... more Новые исследоваНия по региоНальНой экоНомике ЭКОНОМИКА РЕГИОНА № 2 (2015) WWW.ECONOMYOFREGION.COM 15. Kleyner, G. B. (2013). Kakaya ekonomika nuzhna Rossii i dlya chego? (opyt sistemnogo issledovaniya) [What economy does Russia need and what for? (experience for the systems analysis study)]. Voprosy ekonomiki [Questions of Economy], 2, 4-5. 16. Orlova, N. R. & Buletova, N. Ye. (2014). Neprokhodyashchiy «kaskad bifurkatsiy» traektorii razvitiya rossiyskikh regionov: prichiny i posledstviya [Lingering «bifurcation cascade» of the trajectory of development of Russian regions: causes and consequences.]. Natsionalnyye interesy: prioritety i bezopasnost [National interests: priorities and security], 20 (257), 24-38.
Voprosy Economiki, Dec 20, 2017
The review discusses the institutional theory of money considered in the books by King and Huber,... more The review discusses the institutional theory of money considered in the books by King and Huber, and the conclusions that follow from it for economic policy. In accordance with this theory, at present the most of the money supply is created not by the Central Bank but by private banks. When a bank issues a loan, new money is created, and when the loan is repaid this money is destructed. The concept of sovereign money involves the monopoly of money creation of the central bank. In this case the most of newly created money is handed over to the ministry of finance to implement government spending.
Academic economists have a strong influence on political discourse in Russia by delivering throug... more Academic economists have a strong influence on political discourse in Russia by delivering through courses of "Economic theory" and "Institutional economics" very harmful conceptual elements for political discourse. This article proposes to change radically these courses in such a way that, instead of self-interest of the economic man, consideration of social relations exclusively through the prism of exchange, society and community as fictions, the state as a bandit and the opportunistic behavior as a norm, they would provide students with very different images of socioeconomic interactions. Discursive paradigm in economics, the foundations of which were laid by John Commons, allows us to take another look at the institutions, transactions, contractual relationships, property, enterprises, and institutional change, and the contemporary communitarian philosophy (Michael Sandel, Alasdair Macintyre, Charles Taylor) and the historical, discursive and constructivist institutionalism in political science (Theda Skocpol, Vivien Schmidt, Colin Hay) make it possible to have different interpretations of the state, law, and civil society. This article calls for a return of institutional economics to the humanistic position of its founders and for a strong critic of the so-called "new institutional economics" and "new political economy". The author, following John Dewey, proposes to economists to feed by the results of their empirical research an enlarged political discourse, which will involve the general public. Among these empirical studies the institutional monitoring should play a central role. Performing institutional monitoring means doing research in the framework of the discursive paradigm, which is ontologically and epistemologically the adequate form of research for understanding the socioeconomic political realities.
Voprosy Economiki, 2020
The article deals with the episodes in the three-century confrontation between the account-debt i... more The article deals with the episodes in the three-century confrontation between the account-debt institutional and the commodity theory of money. The former is rarely discussed; and the ideas of G. Ingham can be considered as a such modern episode. The commodity theory of money continues to dominate in university textbooks. The article analyzes the fate of two books by J. M. Keynes and J. Schumpeter as an example. It shows the connection of the two theories of money with two opposite methodological approaches, namely, a priori-abstract, based on assumptions, and historical-experimental, based on facts. The first of these was clearly identified by J. S. Mill at the beginning of the institutionalization of the academic/university economist profession and continues to dominate this profession to this day. The second was developed in the German historico-ethical school headed by G. Schmoller and in the community of American original institutionalism, the most consistent representatives o...
Academic economists have a strong influence on political discourse in Russia by delivering throug... more Academic economists have a strong influence on political discourse in Russia by delivering through courses of "Economic theory" and "Institutional economics" very harmful conceptual elements for political discourse. This article proposes to change radically these courses in such a way that, instead of self-interest of the economic man, consideration of social relations exclusively through the prism of exchange, society and community as fictions, the state as a bandit and the opportunistic behavior as a norm, they would provide students with very different images of socio-economic interactions. Discursive paradigm in economics, the foundations of which were laid by John Commons, allows us to take another look at the institutions, transactions, contractual relationships, property, enterprises, and institutional change, and the contemporary communitarian philosophy (Michael Sandel, Alasdair Macintyre, Charles Taylor) and the historical, discursive and constructivist...
MPRA Paper, 2003
Les exigences des étudiants normaliens et l'économie institutionnelle de John R. Commons.
Voprosy Ekonomiki, 2007
On the basis of contemporary results of the philosophy of science the author renews the debate on... more On the basis of contemporary results of the philosophy of science the author renews the debate on methods (Methodenstreit). The current dominant conception of "scientific" stems from classical natural science. New Institutional Economics has been trapped in the classical paradigm by imitating not even contemporary natural science but that existing one hundred years before which studied simple systems. Practically-oriented first institutionalists in Germany and in the USA who dealt with complex socio-economic systems properly found out the interpretative approach appropriate for this kind of systems. This approach has recently received an increased development. The author uses these results for renovating the vision of the subject matter and the method of institutional economics.
Les exigences des étudiants normaliens et l'économie institutionnelle de John R. Commons.
Economy of Region, 2015
According to historians of science the first scientists were Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and Will... more According to historians of science the first scientists were Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and William Gilbert (1544-1603) [1, p. 68]. Both used the actively experimental method, which includes specially organised observation, for example on the basis of a constructed telescope. Galileo was convinced that the universe is a book that is written in the mathematical language, and the symbols of this language are geometrical figures like triangles and circles. Without the help of these symbols "it is impossible to comprehend a single word of it [the book of the universe]; without of which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth" [2, p. 75]. He strongly believed in the force of mathematical models which once constructed can be used to understand the reality. This belief had a religious basis: "God has made the world an immutable mathematical system, permitting by the mathematical method an absolute certainty of scientific knowledge" (Ibid., p. 82). Gilbert, who apparently did not share this belief, was the father of nonmathematical scientific current (Ibid., p. 163). Another scientist who tremendously contributed to the formation of rules of scientific research was Robert Boyle. Following Gilbert's practice he championed the method of reasoned analysis of sensible facts, confirmed by exact experiment: "Experience is but an assistant to reason, since it doth indeed supply information to the understanding but the understanding still remain the judge and has the power or right to examine and make use of the testimonies that are presented to it" (Ibid., p. 170-171). Boyle was one of the organisers of the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge known as the Royal Society of London. It is his vision of scientific research which was institutionalised in the framework of associations of its practitioners, one of the first of which was the above mentioned Royal Society of London. The Royal Society of London was founded in 1660 by members of one or two either secretive or informal societies already in existence. The origins of the Royal Society lie in an «invisible college» of natural philosophers who began meeting in the mid-1640s to discuss the ideas of Francis Bacon. The motto of the Royal Society, «Nullius in Verba» («Nothing in words») or in other words «Demonstration by facts and not by words», signifies the Society's commitment to establishing the truth of scientific matters through experiment rather than through citation of authority and logical reasoning. The Society was to meet weekly to witness experiments and discuss what we would now call scientific topics. The history of science since 1660 is closely intertwined with the story of the Royal Society. Approximately at the same time similar societies were created in Italy (Florentine Accademia de Cimento in 1657) and France (Parisian Académie Royale des Sciences in 1666). These societies "represented alternative organisational forms to the universities… The new societies aimed to provide a novel organisational form uniquely suited to the new practice; they made the production of the new knowledge, rather than the just guardianship of and commentary on the old, central to their identity; and they aimed, with varying success, to link the progress of science to civic concerns rather than wholly scholarly or religious ones" [3, p. 133]. The societies "placed high value on the necessity of disciplined collective labour in the making of proper natural knowledge" (Ibid.) and "manifested a pronounced concern for orderliness and the rules of proper behaviour in making and evaluating natural knowledge" (Ibid.). The Royal Society was dominated by scholars-gentlemen. They considered "veracity to be underwritten by virtue. Gentlemen insisted upon the truthfulness of their relations as a mark of their condition and their honour. The acknowledgement of gentlemanly truthfulness was the acknowledgment of gentlemanly identity" [4, p. 410].Objectivity of the truth-seeking by gentlemen in the process of evaluating testimony of experiments and scientific debate concerning them was favoured by gentlemen' material independence: "Free action and integrity were seen as the condition for truth-telling, while constraint and need were recognised as the grounds of mendacity" (Ibid.).
Economy of Region, 2015
The paper proposes to reconsider the methodology and history of economics radically, whether pres... more The paper proposes to reconsider the methodology and history of economics radically, whether present day mainstream or heterodox versions of it. The profession of economists must definitely abandon Cartesian dualism and adopt Vygotskian constructivism. In fact constructivist economics already existed in the past and was cognitively very successful and socially very useful. It was the economics of Gustav Schmoller's historicoethical school and the institutionalist economics of John R. Commons, traditions of which are totally ignored by the contemporary community of economists. The former tradition was based on Dilthey's hermeneutics and the latter on Peirce's pragmatism. It is worth to underline that hermeneutics and pragmatism are both predecessors of Vygotskian constructivism. During the last two decades a lot was written by economists on pragmatist, constructivist and discursive approaches to the methodology and history of economics, but those who wrote on these topics viewed them from the dualistic point of view. My paper is an appeal to economists to reconsider Methodenstreit. The dispute of methods between Schmoller and Menger can be considered as a repetition of a similar dispute taking place more than two hundred years earlier between Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes. Schmoller-Menger dispute started soon after the beginning of the institutionalisation of experimentally-oriented economics which happened with the creation in 1873 of the Vereinfür Sozialpolitik. Boyle-Hobbes dispute started in 1660, when the Royal Society of London had been founded, the cradle of the institution of science. Schmoller was one of the creators of the Verein, and Boyle was one of the founders of the Royal Society. The activities of both societies were similar in several respects: they represented efforts to collect data, working out of detailed reports and collective evaluation of obtained results. For Hobbes, as for Menger, the model of 'science' was geometry. Boyle and Schmoller privileged collecting and analysing data. Boyle did win the dispute, Schmoller did loose. It happened because of different attitudes of powerful groups in societies towards natural scientific experimental research and experimental social research. They were interested in the former, and they saw much more danger than benefit for them in the latter. On the contrary, they were interested in abstract theoretical constructions justifying the market vision of society and laissez-faire. This kind of constructions corresponded to deeply enrooted scholastic traditions of European universities to teach theology and linked with it philosophy. In the framework of these traditions, mathematics was considered as a summit of the scientific approach. On the one hand, the adoption of constructivism by economists would turn their discipline into a science functionally close to natural sciences. On the other hand the Vygotskian constructivism, as a social and political philosophy, once accepted by economists, may lead them to become preachers of the communitarian liberalism with its emphasis on social responsibility, deliberative democracy, and discourse ethics.
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Papers by Vladimir Yefimov