Alexander Eckstein – författare

China's Economic Development: The Interplay of Scarcity and Ideology by Alexander Eckstein provides a comprehensive analysis of China's economic growth and transformation from a socialist economy. Eckstein examines the unique challenges China faced in addressing its economic backwardness, such as scarcity of resources and ideological constraints, and compares its industrialization to other countries. The book explores how Maoist ideology and policy initiatives impacted the country's economic strategies, leading to a fluctuating development pattern characterized by rapid expansion in the 1950s and stagnation in the 1960s. Key themes include the dichotomy between scarcity and ideology, the influence of historical factors on economic structures, and the adaptation to Soviet models. Eckstein sheds light on how China navigated its unique size, population pressures, and low per capita income, arguing that understanding these dynamics is crucial for both development theory and policy design. This volume, part of the Michigan Studies on China series, compiles essays and research that contribute to a nuanced understanding of China's economic systems, with particular focus on the tensions between ideological aspirations and economic realities.

The papers in this volume were among those presented at a Conference on the Quantitative Measures of China's Economic Output, held in January, 1975, at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. The conference was sponsored by the Subcommittee on Research on the Chinese Economy of the Joint Committee on Contemporary China of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies. Alexander Eckstein, from the University of Michigan, had been asked by the subcommittee to organize a meeting to bring together academics and government professionals carrying out research on China's economy to discuss common problems encountered in their research. Given the limited quantity and poor quality of basic economic data for China since 1949, Eckstein decided to organize the conference on the theme of reconciling quantitative estimates of China's economic output. Participants included some twenty academics from the United States, the United Kingdom, and India and fifteen professionals from government or quasi-public research institutions. The success of the conference led to urgings by the subcommittee and many other scholars that Eckstein edit several of the papers for publication. The revisions by the individual authors of the four essays included in this volume and the supervision and coordination of their efforts by Eckstein were time-consuming tasks. The authors worked closely with him in these efforts, and his detailed critiques and suggestions were planned as a separate volume. His contribution to the final version of the essays in this volume is very significant, but Eckstein suffered a fatal heart attack in December, 1976, before the revised draft of the fourth essay was completed and before he had begun to write the introductory essay. He was widely recognized as the dean of American scholars of the economy of China, and his death was a tragic loss for all students of China. Following Eckstein's death, Robert F. Dernberger of the Universit

Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches offers a profound exploration of the analytical frameworks and methodologies that define the field of comparative economics. Emerging from a University of Michigan research conference, the book charts the evolution of comparative economic systems as a discipline, initially focused on evaluating grand “isms” like capitalism and socialism. It shifts the focus toward a nuanced understanding of the traits, institutions, and decision-making mechanisms that influence economic behavior and performance across different systems. By examining theoretical models, such as those proposed by Koopmans, Montias, and Hurwicz, the volume highlights the interplay of variables like property relations, incentive structures, and resource allocation methods within mixed economic systems. The book seeks to bridge ideological labels with empirical data, fostering a more sophisticated analysis of economic systems in practice.This collection is not just an academic critique of economic ideologies but also a practical guide to comparing performance metrics like growth, efficiency, and stability across national economies. It delves into contemporary challenges, including decision-making in large bureaucracies, the role of public versus private ownership, and the impact of technological advancement on economic organization. With contributions from leading economists and case studies, such as Bergson's work on the Soviet Union and the United States, the book underscores the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches to refine the methodologies of comparative economics. It is an essential resource for economists and policy analysts seeking to understand the complexities of economic systems and their implications for global development.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Comparison of Economic Systems: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches offers a profound exploration of the analytical frameworks and methodologies that define the field of comparative economics. Emerging from a University of Michigan research conference, the book charts the evolution of comparative economic systems as a discipline, initially focused on evaluating grand “isms” like capitalism and socialism. It shifts the focus toward a nuanced understanding of the traits, institutions, and decision-making mechanisms that influence economic behavior and performance across different systems. By examining theoretical models, such as those proposed by Koopmans, Montias, and Hurwicz, the volume highlights the interplay of variables like property relations, incentive structures, and resource allocation methods within mixed economic systems. The book seeks to bridge ideological labels with empirical data, fostering a more sophisticated analysis of economic systems in practice.This collection is not just an academic critique of economic ideologies but also a practical guide to comparing performance metrics like growth, efficiency, and stability across national economies. It delves into contemporary challenges, including decision-making in large bureaucracies, the role of public versus private ownership, and the impact of technological advancement on economic organization. With contributions from leading economists and case studies, such as Bergson's work on the Soviet Union and the United States, the book underscores the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches to refine the methodologies of comparative economics. It is an essential resource for economists and policy analysts seeking to understand the complexities of economic systems and their implications for global development.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.

Professor Eckstein's book is a study of China's efforts to achieve rapid modernization of its economy within a socialist framework. Eckstein begins with an examination of economic development in pre-Communist China, specifically focusing on the resources and liabilities inherited by the new regime in 1949 and their effects on development policies. He then analyses the economic objectives of the Communist leadership - narrowing income disparities, maintaining full employment without inflation, and achieving rapid industrialization - and argues that the implementation of these goals required a potent ideology capable of providing a strong faith and motivational force for the mass mobilization of resources. In discussing the methods used by the government to achieve its aims, Eckstein makes a thorough evaluation of China's general framework for economic planning, particularly in regard to the distribution and pricing of farm products and the allocation of resources in the industrial sector. The author also evaluates the radical institutional changes in property relations and in economic organization in the People's Republic of China.