Stagflation as an institutional crisis and a dispute over income

🇵🇱 Polski
Stagflation as an institutional crisis and a dispute over income

📚 Based on

Reaganomics in the stagflation economy
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University of Pennsylvania Press

👤 About the Author

Sidney Weintraub

University of Pennsylvania

American economist (1914-1983), a prominent member of the Post Keynesian economics school. Co-founded The Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. Known for criticism of monetarism and promotion of tax-based incomes policy (TIP). Taught at the University of Pennsylvania.

Introduction

Stagflation is not merely a technical anomaly of macroeconomic indicators. It is a profound institutional crisis resulting from the collision of three levels: nominal income claims, financial balances, and the global monetary order. Understanding this phenomenon requires moving beyond simple supply and demand models to recognize it as a fundamental dispute over the distribution of the social product. This article analyzes how economic policy, instead of mitigating conflicts, often becomes a tool for shifting costs onto the system's weakest participants.

Stagflation as a Conflict of Claims and Financial Instability

Stagflation is a state of synchronization conflict, where the struggle for wages and margins clashes with debt burdens and international requirements. In this context, supply-side economics serves as an ideology legitimizing income redistribution toward the wealthiest under the guise of "unleashing talent." Hyman Minsky points out that long-term stability inevitably breeds an appetite for risk, and state interventions, while saving the system, perpetuate its fragile structure and generate moral hazard.

In turn, Paul Davidson defines monetarism as economic Darwinism. He criticizes treating prices as a simple thermostat, arguing they are an arena for a brutal dispute over income. An alternative to the "monetary bludgeon" and the induction of recessions is a Tax-based Incomes Policy (TIP

📖 Glossary

Stagflacja
Zjawisko ekonomiczne charakteryzujące się jednoczesnym występowaniem wysokiej inflacji oraz stagnacji gospodarczej i bezrobocia.
Polityka dochodowa oparta na podatkach (TIP)
Instrument ekonomiczny nakładający kary finansowe na firmy lub pracowników za nadmierne podwyżki cen lub płac w celu hamowania inflacji.
Benign neglect
Strategia „łagodnego lekceważenia”, w której mocarstwo ignoruje wpływ swojej polityki walutowej na inne kraje, przerzucając na nie koszty dostosowania.
Inercja inflacyjna
Tendencja inflacji do utrzymywania się na stałym poziomie ze względu na zakotwiczone oczekiwania, kontrakty i mechanizmy indeksacji.
Wybór Hobsona
Sytuacja pozornego wyboru, w której w rzeczywistości dostępna jest tylko jedna realna opcja, zazwyczaj wiążąca się z negatywnymi skutkami.
Pokusa nadużycia (Moral hazard)
Sytuacja, w której podmiot podejmuje większe ryzyko, licząc na to, że ewentualne koszty poniesie państwo lub bank centralny jako gwarant płynności.
Eksport recesji
Mechanizm, w którym polityka pieniężna centrum systemu wymusza w innych gospodarkach działania deflacyjne i ograniczenie popytu.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is stagflation from an institutional perspective?
It is a state of violent synchronization conflict between nominal income claims, the world of financial balance sheets and the global international order.
What role does the state play in the system according to Minsky?
The state acts as a great stabilizer, saving the system from collapse, but at the same time it perpetuates its fragility by creating a structure of rational moral hazard.
What is the thesis about the contradiction of Jan Kregel's attribution?
This is a situation in which the same monetary policy instrument serves contradictory purposes: price stabilization within the country and exchange rate stabilization externally.
How does women's work affect macroeconomic stabilization?
Women's work serves as a silent social shock absorber, where work intensification and second income allow households to survive the erosion of real wages.
Why is recession considered a primitive instrument for fighting inflation?
According to Bator, recession is an extremely expensive substitute for conscious income policy, generating a gigantic production gap instead of intelligent coordination of demands.
How does modern business interpret the global financial cycle?
Businesses treat the interest rate cycle as a geopolitical phenomenon, where the decisions of major powers immediately affect financing conditions in emerging markets.

Related Questions

  • Why is stagflation perceived as a state of synchronization conflict between three levels of the economy?
  • How does supply-side economics serve as an ideology legitimizing distributional shifts?
  • What are the main assumptions of Hyman Minsky's financial instability hypothesis in the context of stagflation?
  • What is Davidson's critique of monetarism as "economic Darwinism"?
  • What is Tax-based Incomes Policy (TIP) and why do the authors see it as an alternative to recession?
  • How does Kregel's "counter-tradition of attribution" affect the economic sovereignty of peripheral countries?
  • How do women's labor and the sphere of social reproduction act as macroeconomic shock absorbers?
  • How does global business adapt Minsky and Kregel's theories to contemporary risk management?
  • Why does monetary policy without incomes policy become a tool of indirect violence?
  • How does Polish economic policy after EU accession fit into disputes over the coordination of claims?

🧠 Thematic Groups

  • grupa 1: teoria stagflacji jako konfliktu o podział dochodu społecznego i roszczeń nominalnych
  • grupa 2: finansowe i instytucjonalne uwarunkowania stabilności systemu w ujęciu Minsky'ego i Davidsona
  • grupa 3: międzynarodowy wymiar kryzysu: suwerenność gospodarcza, kursy walutowe i eksport recesji
  • grupa 4: społeczne i genderowe aspekty dostosowania makroekonomicznego oraz rola pracy nieodpłatnej
  • grupa 5: współczesne zarządzanie ryzykiem makroekonomicznym w globalnym biznesie i łańcuchach dostaw
Tags: Stagflation Institutional crisis Income claims Financial balance Laffer curve Inflationary inertia Income Policy (TIP) Benign neglect Hobson's Choice Exporting recession Social shock absorber Economic sovereignty Wage-price spiral Global financial cycle Production gap