---

Published: March 24th, 2016

March 24, 2016, 10:00

Lomonosov housing MSU

Organizer: Laboratory of comparative research on the socio-economic systems FE MSU named after Lomonosov.


On the theme:

Practice of Economic Development showed that the planned management and market economy are not antagonists. Without planning methods it is not possible in the short term to achieve significant changes for the better. The participants will discuss - what are the limits and possible methods of applying the planned leverage in a market economy.


Moderator:

Andrei Kolganov, Professor, Head of the Laboratory for the Study of the market economy of MSU


Among participants:

T. Agapova, A. Akaev, P. Dorohin, D. Belousov, V. Boglaev, V. Bondarenko, V. Volkonskiy, A. Votincev, A. Delianin, R. Dzarasov, P. Zviagincev, L. Zlomanov, P. Katabai, A. Moskovskiy, V. Oreshin, A. Sorokin, Jean-Louis Truel, N. Tuturukov, G. Cagolov, M. Chirkov, S. Shachin

March 23 in the framework of the fourth Moscow Economic Forum (MEF) conference on the theme “Planning in the market economy: what, where, how?” was held.

The moderator of the discussion was Andrei Kolganov Professor, Head of the Laboratory for the Study of market economy of the Moscow State University, the participants - Russian and foreign scientists-economists.

The discussion was opened by Tatyana Agapov, a professor of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. According to her, one of the main problems today are the frequent changes of targets, in both the fiscal and monetary policy. This reduces the level of investor confidence in the strategies of the Government and the Central Bank, as the principal organs of government regulation, complicates the process of formation of economic expectations and, as a consequence, blocking the incentives for innovation, investment and economic growth in general. The decision, according to the economist, is to become a set of programs for various time horizons: long, short and medium term - a mandatory condition for coherence between them.

Jean-Louis Truel head of French consulting company «International Business Development» assured the audience that the lack of planning in the modern market economy is an illusion. Western countries for decades resorted to it with the help of various tools. For example, France in the years after the war moved to indicative planning, which was based on not only setting goals and projections, but also the organization of the dialogue of practically all social and economic forces in order to come to a consensus on what to do and what reforms to carry out in some cases. In the '70s this was the basis of the transition to a system of megaprojects aimed at the development of specific regions and industries. The last phase, marked by the Speaker must be state support of large corporations in strategically important industries.

At the end of his speech, Jean-Louis Truel stressed out that planning must necessarily be connected together and to take into account all aspects, not only economic but also technological, environmental, social, educational, and so on. In addition, planning should integrate all stakeholders. "Social agents, civil society, government agencies, federal and regional business, associations of trade unions, universities, research centers, all of them must be members of the planning process," - concluded the businessman.

During the discussion, a lot of planning decisions were sounded: from the economy of the "real socialism" and the socio-economic forecasts to the public the indicative plans, which were used in the 1960-1970-ies in France, the Scandinavian countries, Japan, South Korea, India and several Latin American countries in the last decade - in China.

Alexander Buzgalin Doctor of Economic Sciences, professor of Economic Faculty of Moscow State University outlined selective basis for planning, which, in his opinion, will bring together national and international experience. One of the biggest challenges of this prediction will be to identify development priorities and the subsequent formulation of medium- and long-term goals. Successful implementation of the latter will provide a detailed plan of action for all industry participants for a specific period (taxes, rates and credit conditions, the conditions of foreign economic activity, the pricing rules of the system, quality standards, and others.). The core of the plan is to be the state order.

The economist said that planning is impossible without the development of an appropriate system of institutions, and without a single supervisory authority, similar to the State Planning Commission. It is worth noting that Buzgalin called the plan a necessary but not sufficient condition for the further development of the Russian economy.

Panellists unanimously stated the crisis and lack of raw model of free market instruments for the regulation of the national economy. Further development of the Russian economy in current conditions is impossible without planning. This is especially true of the most important sectors like R & D, fundamental science, education and high technology.

Source: PR department of MEF