Re: question michael a. lebowitz

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

At 02:58 13/01/2006, Soula wrote:
> I recently heard a critical
> coment that Chavez development policy consists of small cottage like
> indistry where every family would be self sufficient with its own chicken
> coop.

Given the level of poverty in Venezuela, this programme would probably
ensure Chavez's re-election later this year. The wisdom of critical
histmatics notwithstanding, there's a bit more involved in development
policy here. Eg., here's part of a recent criticism from the right,
computer-translated from El Universal (8 January):

> Beyond the chain of phrases,
> that of gaseous form have delineated the objectives to conquer _
> endogenous development, popular economy, vertebración, autoempleo,
> productive integration of markets, chains _, the system shows a face
> where the State exaggerates its weight and grasps all the threads that
> move the economic process.
>
> The interest rates, the type of change, the price of 42% of the goods
> that are used to measure the inflation and a third of the credits that
> grants the bank are under the control of the State, to which a complex
> gear is added with which the chavista administration assumes the roll of
> producer, industralist and financista.
>
> The anatomy
>
> The head of the new economic body is Pdvsa, company that directly inject
> resources for social plans, bottoms of development and are the axis of
> the process of integration with other countries through agreements of
> black gold interchange by doctors or agricultural products, as well as
> Petrocaribe and Petrosur.
>
> With the expansion of the Venezuelan Corporation of Guayana (CVG) that
> begins to incursionar in the telecommunications through CVG Telecom, the
> association with Iran to create a factory of tractors and a cementera,
> the pulp manufacture and paper, as well as the creation of the air line
> Conviasa, is crystallized the industrial arm.
>
> The banking structure to endorse the projects of the Government counts on
> the Bank of the People, Bank of the Woman, Industrial development bank of
> Venezuela and Bandes, while the creation of the Bank of the National
> Armed Forces stays in project, of cooperatives and the one of the
> house.
>
> With the tool of Mercal and CASA the Executive participates with force in
> the chain of food commercialization _ calculates that _ controls a
> fraction of the noninferior market to 25% and with the Agrarian
> Venezuelan Corporation the producer roll is assumed, next to the new
> sugar power stations and the processors of cacao.
>
> In the endogenous nuclei, the zamoranos cooperatives, fundos and the
> calls companies of social production, try themselves to advance with the
> noncapitalist experience, supported with the State Capital and the
> purchase of goods that the organisms guarantee public.
>
> It is predicted that to taking the 1 of February more it appears in
> Newspaper the list of conditions that will have to fulfill who aspire to
> have a social company, but the minister of Basic Industries, Víctor
> Alvarez, already advanced that "the mercantile company sells to
> prices of market, the company of social production sells to shared in
> common prices".
>
> In addition, he is contemplated that these companies receive support of
> the financial organisms of the State, that would grant credits to him to
> rates of up to 6% and on credit very superior to the traditional
> ones.

>  Does Chavez have an
> industrial policy building clusters with increasing returns and linking
> the infrastruture in Latin america?

        

Without
expanding at length, the basic development strategy is one of walking on
two legs--- expand the state sector, especially basic industry,
processing, etc (ie. Dept I)  and support the development of
Companies of Social Production (EPS) , which cluster around state firms
as suppliers and processors in production chains; these latter (in
industry, agriculture and services) tend to be small, many emerging from
the vast numbers of cooperatives recently created and the argument is
that they are to be oriented toward use-value (serving community needs)
rather than exchange value--- with the lever to advance this being the
access to business with the state firms and access to cheap credit. I
don't know how much of all this will get into the chapter I'm writing
right now on the Bolivarian model for an MR book, but (assuming that the
historic pattern of corruption and clientalism doesn't overwhelm all) the
model, which obviously is more than building socialism chicken coop by
chicken coop, will sooner or later become clear..

        

I hope
this answers the question for now.

        

        

michael

Michael A. Lebowitz

Professor Emeritus

Economics Department

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at

Residencias Anauco Suites

Departamento 601

Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1

Caracas, Venezuela

(58-212) 573-4111

fax: (58-212) 573-7724