Mathematical Economics in the Era of Socialism and the Transition to the Market (Part Two)

• Published in: Studies on Russian economic development 2024-12, Vol.35 (6), p.763-769
• Main Author: Polterovich, V. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 20th century; Black markets; Development economics; Economic reform; Economics; Economics and Finance; Economists; International Economics; International organizations; Market economies; On the 300th Anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Planned economy; Rationing; Reforms; Socialism; Socioeconomic development
• ISSN: 1075-7007; 1531-8664
• DOI: 10.1134/S1075700724700308

The article is devoted to the study of the history of the development of economic thought in Russia, its struggle with the official ideology and attempts to influence the choice of strategies for socio-economic development. The second part of the work shows that this struggle revealed the imperfection of the world economic–mathematical theory of the late 20th century, which was focused on the study of market competition and did not consider the mechanisms of rationing, queues, and the black market characteristic of a planned economy. The intensive efforts made by Russian economists in this direction were belated. In the “war of programs” for the transition to a market economy that unfolded in the late 1980s, the concept of shock therapy won. This was facilitated by the pressure of international organizations that did not care about the well-being of the population of the Soviet Union, and the lack of unity among Russian economists. They united with each other and with leading Western economists belatedly, so that the program of reforms they put forward could no longer influence the results of the reforms. Nevertheless, the efforts of economists–mathematicians contributed to the formation of modern economic education in Russia and the gradual establishment of an independent economic science.