Macroeconomics as a system.
Economic growth and its factors.
The economic cycle and its phases.
Inflation and investment in macroeconomics. The essence and causes of inflation.
Macroeconomics as a system.
Unlike microeconomics, which studies the motivation of the behavior of producers and consumers, the mechanism of their interaction in markets in a competitive environment, macroeconomics is a part of economic theory, considering the functioning of the economy as a whole. When they talk about it, they usually mean the national economy, less often - the economy of the region. The complexity of its study is as follows:
1) it includes large territories and natural resources;
2) a large number of enterprises of various profiles operate in it, which requires a constant balance between them;
3) the size of the manufactured product and its structure in many ways exceed the size of the product produced even by large corporations (hence the complexity of its implementation);
4) the macrosystem is represented by various classes and social groups, nationalities, therefore, it is necessary to take into account their interests.
Macroeconomics can also be viewed as a science that studies the economy as a whole, as well as its most important sectors and markets. The subject of study of macroeconomics as a science is a system of national economy economic relations and ties that determine its state and interaction with the world economy.
The systematized foundations of macroeconomics as a science were laid by the English economist J.M. Keynes in his famous work "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" (1936). However, some macroeconomic models existed before him. So, the first macroeconomic model was the economic table of F. Quesnay. Schemes of simple and extended reproduction were described by K. Marx, L. Walras. International recognition was given to the results of studies of economic processes and phenomena at the macro level, obtained by domestic scientists, among which N.D. Kondratieva, V.S. Nemchinov, L.V. Kantorovich.
Macroeconomics focuses on the most significant factors that determine the economic policy of the state. Such factors include, for example, the dynamics of investment, the state of the state budget and the balance of payments, exchange rate, wage levels, employment, prices, etc. At the same time, macroeconomics does not consider the behavior of individual economic agents - firms, households, individuals. Outside the scope of macroeconomic analysis is also the identification of differences between individual markets. At the macro level, the key moments of the functioning of an integral economic system in the interaction of markets for goods, labor, money, etc., as well as national economies as a whole, i.e. the parameters of establishment and maintenance of short-term and long-term general macroeconomic equilibrium are revealed.
The main problems studied at the macro level are:
Determining the volume and structure of the national product and national income;
Identification of factors regulating employment on the scale of the national economy;
Analysis of inflationary processes;
Study of the mechanism and factors of economic growth;
Consideration of the causes of cyclical fluctuations in the economy;
Study of foreign economic interaction of national economies;
Theoretical substantiation of the goals, content and forms of implementation of the macroeconomic policy of the state, etc.
The macroeconomic approach to the study of economic phenomena and processes is aimed at studying the principles of formation of aggregate indicators that characterize the level and trends in the development of the economy as a whole: national income, total employment, investment, price level, economic growth rates. The main subjects of the market economy are also considered as aggregated aggregates. This means that the actions of all economic agents are interpreted in the person of one producing a national product, and all consumers are represented in the market as an aggregate consumer who demands this product in exchange for income received from the sale of factors of production.
In the modern world, there are three main types of economic systems: market, command and mixed. Let's get to know them in more detail.
Market economy (market economy) characterized as a system based on private property, freedom of choice and competition, it relies on personal interests, limits the role of government.
In the process of the historical development of human society, prerequisites are created for strengthening economic freedom – the ability of an individual to realize his interests and abilities through vigorous activity in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of economic goods.
Objective and subjective prerequisites for this arise after the elimination of all forms of personal dependence. The development of a market economy played an important role in this. The market economy guarantees the freedom of the consumer, which is expressed in the freedom of consumer choice in the market of goods and services. Voluntary, non-coercive exchange becomes a necessary condition for consumer sovereignty. Everyone independently distributes their resources in accordance with their interests and, if desired, can independently organize the process of production of goods and services to the extent that their abilities and available capital allow.
This means that there is freedom of enterprise. The individual himself determines what, how and for whom to produce, where, how, to whom, how much and at what price to sell the produced products, how and on what to spend the received proceeds. Therefore, economic freedom presupposes economic responsibility and relies on it.
Self-interest is the main motive and the main driving force of the economy. For consumers this interest is utility maximization, for producers it is profit maximization. Freedom of choice becomes the basis of competition.
The classical market economy proceeds from the limited role of government intervention in the economy. The government is necessary only as a body that determines the rules of the market game and monitors the implementation of these rules.
As opposed to the market command economy (command economy) is described as a system dominated by public (state) ownership of the means of production, collective economic decision-making, centralized management of the economy through state planning. The most striking example of such an economy was the USSR.
A characteristic feature of a command economy is the monopoly of production, which ultimately hinders scientific and technological progress. State regulation of prices, monopoly of production, slowdown in technical progress naturally give rise to an economy of scarcity.
The paradox is that shortages occur in conditions of universal employment and almost full capacity utilization. Hypercentralism naturally contributes to the swelling of the bureaucratic apparatus. The basis of its growth was the monopolization of the role in the hierarchical division of labor.
However, with all the disadvantages of such a system, it also has some advantages. First of all, this is the powerful role of the state in solving social problems thanks to full control over almost all resources.
Under mixed economy (mixed eco nomy) the type of society that synthesizes elements of the first two systems is implied, that is, the mechanism of the market is supplemented by the vigorous activity of the state.
Since one of the most important features of the classification of economic systems is the form of ownership (private, public) and the method of coordinating economic activity (market, planned), the simplest typology of industrial systems is as follows.
Typology of industrial economic systems in terms of
forms of ownership and coordination mechanism
Nineteenth-century England is cited as a classic example of private capitalism. and post-war Hong Kong; capitalist "planned" economy - fascist Germany; socialist "market" economy - Yugoslavia; socialist planned economy - the USSR.
To measure the results of the functioning of the national economy in theory and practice, various macroeconomic indicators are used. The main ones are: gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), net national product (NNP), national income (NI), personal income (DI), disposable income (DI), national wealth (NW).
Gross domestic product- this is the newly created value of goods and services in the country using national factors at current market prices (end-buyer prices) for a certain period of time. It belongs to the key indicator, because reflects the dynamics of all stages of social reproduction: production, distribution, exchange and consumption. GDP covers the results of the activities of all economic entities in the territory of a given country, regardless of their nationality.
The value of GDP also includes non-market goods and services, i.e. which do not enter the market, but are produced for their own consumption (livestock breeding, farming, etc.). They are valued at current market prices for similar goods and services or at the cost of their production.
The calculation of GDP is carried out by three methods:
summation of income;
summation of expenses;
adding value added.
The first method summarizes the income of individuals and legal entities, households, as well as state income from entrepreneurial activity and income of government bodies: taxes on production and imports, customs duties.
The second method summarizes the costs of personal and government consumption (public procurement), investment, foreign trade balance (the difference between the value of exports and imports of the country).
According to the third method, value added is the difference between the output of goods and services and intermediate consumption. The need to introduce intermediate consumption is due to the fact that many products, before reaching the final consumer, go through several production stages (processing, processing), which overestimates the value of GDP due to repeated counting.
In some countries (USA, Japan, etc.), the main indicator is gross national product. Its difference from GDP is that it does not take into account the balance of settlements with foreign countries, and also considers only the product produced by national producers, regardless of the territory.
net national product represents the amount of final output of goods and services remaining for consumption after the replacement of decommissioned equipment. It is less than GNP by the amount of depreciation.
national income characterizes the amount of income of all suppliers of production resources, with the help of which the NNP is created. NI is less than NNP by the amount of indirect taxes.
Personal income shows how much money goes to the personal consumption of the population. When calculating the LI, taxes on the profits of enterprises, the volume of their retained earnings and the amount of social insurance contributions are deducted from the IR, but transfer payments (pensions, scholarships, allowances, etc.) are added.
To characterize the income that the population can spend at its discretion, is used disposable income. To calculate it, the total amount of taxes paid by the population is subtracted from the LD.
To measure the final results of a country's development over the entire history of its existence, national wealth. This is the totality of material and spiritual wealth accumulated in the country at a given point in time.
The peculiarity of macroeconomic analysis is that its most important principle is aggregation. The study of economic dependencies and patterns at the level of the economy as a whole is possible only if we consider aggregates or aggregates. Macroeconomic analysis requires aggregation. Aggregation is a combination of individual elements into a single whole, into an aggregate, into a collection.
Aggregation allows you to select:
Economic agents;
Economic markets;
Economic Relations;
Economic indicators.
Aggregation based on the identification of the most typical features of the behavior of economic agents makes it possible to single out four macroeconomic agents:
1 Households are an independent, rationally operating macroeconomic agent, the purpose of which economic activity is to maximize utility, being in the economy: a) the owner of economic resources (labor, land, capital and entrepreneurial abilities). By selling economic resources, households receive income, most of which they spend on consumption (consumer spending) and therefore act as b) the main buyer of goods and services. Households save the rest of their income and are therefore c) the main saver or lender, i.e. ensure the supply of credit in the economy.
2 Firms (business firms) are an independent, rationally acting macroeconomic agent, the purpose of whose economic activity is profit maximization. Firms are: a) the buyer of economic resources with which the production process is ensured, and therefore firms are b) the main producer of goods and services in the economy. The proceeds received from the sale of goods and services produced, firms pay households in the form of factor income. To expand the production process, ensure capital growth and compensate for the depreciation of capital, firms need investment goods (primarily equipment), so firms are c) investors, i.e. buyers of investment goods and services. And since, as a rule, firms use borrowed funds to finance their investment expenditures, they act as
d) the main borrower in the economy, i.е. demand for loans.
Households and firms form the private sector of the economy. 14.1.
Figure 14.1 - Model of a simple two-sector closed economy
3 The state (government) is a set of public institutions and organizations that have the political and legal right to influence the course of economic processes, to regulate the economy. The state is an independent, rationally acting macroeconomic agent whose main task is to eliminate market failures and maximize public welfare, and therefore acts as: a) a producer of public goods; b) a buyer of goods and services to ensure the functioning of the public sector and the performance of its many functions; c) a redistributor of national income (through a system of taxes and transfers); d) depending on the state of the state budget - as a creditor or borrower in the financial market. In addition, the state acts e) the regulator and organizer of the functioning of the market economy.
It creates and provides the institutional framework for the functioning of the economy (legislative framework, security system, insurance system, tax system, etc.), i.e. develops "rules of the game"; provides and controls the supply of money in the country, since it has the monopoly right to issue money; pursues macroeconomic policy, which is divided into:
Structural, ensuring economic growth;
Market (stabilization), aimed at smoothing out cyclical fluctuations in the economy and ensuring full employment of resources, a stable price level and external economic equilibrium). The main types of stabilization policy are: a) fiscal (or fiscal) policy; b) monetary (or monetary) policy; c) foreign economic policy; d) income policy.
The private and public sectors form a closed economy. 14.2.
Savings are "leaks" from the income stream, that is, the portion of national income that is not spent by households in the national commodity market. Investments are "injections" into the spending stream, as they complement household spending.
In any state of the economy, the actual values of the national product (income) and total expenditures, savings and investments are equal.
Thus, the identity of national income and total expenditures is characteristic of the economic circulation, formula 14.1:
where Y is total income (output); E - total costs.
The income received by households (Y) is broken down into consumer spending (C) and savings (S), and total spending (E) is made up of consumer spending (C) and investment (I), formulas 14.2, 14.3:
Y = C + S (14.2)
E = C + I (14.3)
It follows from the foregoing that in the economic cycle there is also an identity of leakages (savings) and injections (investments), formula 14.4:
Taking into account the additions made, the main macroeconomic identities take the form, formula 14.5:
where Y = C + S + T; E \u003d C + I + G, from which it follows that the equality of leaks and injections expands, formula 14.6:
S + T = I + G (14.6)
If equal planned values of income and expenses, savings and investments, the economic system presented in the model is in state of equilibrium.
4 Foreign sector (foreign sector) - unites all other countries of the world and is an independent rationally acting macroeconomic agent that interacts with this country through: a) international trade (export and import of goods and services), b) movement of capital (export and import of capital , i.e. financial assets).
The inclusion of the external economic sector maintains the equality of the national product with the national income, but at the same time the composition of total expenditures expands due to net exports, which is the difference between exports and imports, formula 14.7:
NX=EX-IM (14.7)
As a result, the main macroeconomic identities are expressed as follows, formulas 14.8, 14.9:
Y = C + I + G + NX (14.9)
S + T + IM = I + G + EX (14.10)
It is important to note that in order to meet the equilibrium conditions in an open economy, a balance is not required in each of the pairs of leakages and injections: “savings - investments”; "taxes - government spending"; "import Export". All that is needed is their general, total correspondence. At the same time, by transforming the equality of leaks and injections, it is possible to reveal the relationship between commodity flows and capital flows that connect the national economy with the outside world. After some transformations of the equality, we obtain the formula 14.11:
S + (T - G) - I \u003d EX - IM (14.11)
Adding the foreign sector to the analysis allows you to get open economy rice. 14.3.
Aggregation of markets is carried out in order to identify the patterns of functioning of each of them, namely: to study the features of the formation of supply and demand and the conditions for their equilibrium in each of the markets; determining the equilibrium price and equilibrium volume based on the ratio of supply and demand; analysis of the consequences of a change in equilibrium in each of the markets.
Market aggregation makes it possible to distinguish four macroeconomic markets:
1 Market of goods and services (real market)
The market for goods and services is called the real market (real market), because real assets are sold and bought there (real values - real assets).
2 Financial market (market of financial assets);
The financial market (market of borrowed funds) (financial assets market) is a market where financial assets (money, stocks and bonds) are sold and bought. This market is divided into two segments: a) the money market (money market) or the market of monetary financial assets; b) the securities market (bonds market) or the market for non-monetary financial assets. There are no buying and selling processes in the money market (buying money for money is meaningless), but the study of the money market functioning patterns, the formation of money demand and money supply is very important for macroeconomic analysis. The study of the money market, the conditions of its equilibrium allows us to obtain the equilibrium interest rate (interest rate), which acts as the "price of money" (price of credit), and the equilibrium value of the money supply (money stock), as well as to consider the consequences of a change in equilibrium in the money market and its impact on market for goods and services. The main intermediaries in the money market are banks that accept cash deposits and issue loans.
Stocks and bonds are bought and sold on the stock market. The buyers of securities are primarily households that spend their savings to generate income (dividend on stocks and interest on bonds). Firms act as sellers (issuers) of shares, and firms and the state act as sellers of bonds. Firms issue stocks and bonds to raise funds to finance their investment spending and expand output, while the government issues bonds to finance government deficits.
3 Market of economic resources
The resource market in macroeconomic models is represented by the labor market, since the patterns of its functioning (the formation of labor demand and labor supply) make it possible to explain macroeconomic processes, especially in the short term. When studying the labor market, we must abstract (abstract) from all the different types of work, differences in skill levels and vocational training. In long-term macroeconomic models, the capital market is also explored. The equilibrium of the labor market allows us to determine the equilibrium amount of labor (labour force) in the economy and the equilibrium "labor price" - the rate wages(wage rate). An analysis of disequilibrium in the labor market makes it possible to identify the causes and forms of unemployment.
4 Foreign exchange market
A foreign exchange market is a market where national monetary units (currencies) are exchanged for each other. different countries(dollars for yens, marks for francs, etc.). As a result of the exchange of one national currency for another, an exchange (exchange) rate is formed.
Program annotation
The concept of macroeconomics. Tasks of macroeconomic regulation. Problems considered in macroeconomics. Research mechanism. Model of "circular flows"
National Accounting System (SNA).
Sectors of the economy, main national accounts.
Macroeconomic indicators: GDP, GNP, its measurement by income and expenditure. Net national product, national income, personal income, national wealth.
The main task of macroeconomic regulation is to ensure the efficient functioning of the economy.
The main problems studied in macroeconomics are: *
Determination of the volume and structure of the national product and national income *
Ensuring sustainable economic growth *
Analysis of inflationary processes *
Study of foreign economic interaction of national economies *
Theoretical substantiation of the goals, content and forms of implementation of the macroeconomic policy of the state.
At the macroeconomic level, monetary, financial, and social policies are formed. Inflation, unemployment, tax and investment policies are the main macroeconomic factors that influence the microeconomic decisions of economic structures related to their consumer spending, savings, and investments.
The main mechanisms of macroeconomic dynamics can be studied using the “circular flows” model, which characterizes the movement of income and expenses between economic entities, which makes it possible to determine their dynamics and the subjects of interaction.
Rice. 4.1.1. Model of "circular flows" in the economy
The diagram shows the flow of inventories from households to enterprises and vice versa. In this case, the income and expenses of each of the participants in the movement are allocated.
The involvement of the government in the economic process leads to a number of new areas of interaction related to the payment of taxes, government purchases both in the product market and in the resource market.
The dependence of enterprises and households on government policy is quite obvious, which has multifaceted mechanisms and directions that have a different impact on the activities of economic structures.
Modern economic science cannot do without measurements and comparisons of the main macroeconomic indicators. They are considered and calculated not in isolation from each other, but in a certain system, which is called the system of national accounts (SNA).
The SNA studies and records the process of creation, distribution and redistribution of gross domestic product in each country. It gives a stepwise picture of economic processes, including a standard set of accounts for all sectors of the economy. There are 6 main sectors of the economy:
Rice. 4.1.2. Sectors of macroeconomics
The basis of the system of national accounts are the following accounts: 1.
the production account reflects the results of production activities 2.
the income generation account characterizes the process of generating various incomes (profits, wages, property income, transfer payments, etc.) 3.
The distribution of income account shows how income is distributed among the main recipients 4.
The use of income account shows how final consumption and gross capital formation are formed from gross disposable income. 5.
the capital account contains indicators of savings, changes in stocks, depreciation of fixed capital 6.
financial account shows the totals of changes in financial assets and liabilities of entities and liabilities
As a result of information processing, a set of balance sheets is formed, the indicators of which make it possible to determine generalizing macroeconomic indicators that characterize the state of the economy.
The main macroeconomic indicators include:
1. gross domestic product - the value of the final product produced during the year by domestic and foreign enterprises in the territory of a given country
2. gross national product - the value of the final product produced during the year by domestic enterprises in the territory of a given country and abroad
Rice. 4.1.3. The structure of the ratio between GNP and GDP
Methods have been developed for calculating GNP based on expenditures on created products and on incomes received as a result of producing products.
Expenditure calculation determines GNP by summing society's expenditures on final consumption
where GNPr is the gross national product,
C - consumption expenditures (household expenditures on different kinds goods and services)
I - investment costs (costs of equipment, production buildings, inventories, housing construction and depreciation costs)
G - government spending (government spending on the production of goods and services by the state)
X - net export - the difference between the volume of exports and imports
Calculation by income involves the definition of GNP as the sum of all income created in society during its production
where GNP is the gross national product
Z - salary (including additional payments from social security, social insurance and payments from private pension funds)
R - rent payments received by households as a result of leasing land, premises, housing, etc.
K - interest in the form of income from money capital
P - profit of corporations and owners of individual farms, partnerships
A - depreciation charges
N - indirect taxes on business (excises, VAT, property tax, royalties and customs duties)
Moreover, the following condition must be met: GNPd = GNPr
Gross domestic product differs from gross national product by the amount of net exports, i.e.
It is known that modern economies rarely do without inflation, which raises the level of prices in the country. Given this circumstance, the concepts of nominal and real GNP are distinguished. Nominal GNP - GNP expressed in current, actual prices. Real GNP is the gross product, the value of which is adjusted for the amount of annual price growth with the help of the so-called price deflator (the deflator is the coefficient for converting the value of GNP into constant prices).
Nominal GNP Real GNP At current prices of the given year At constant prices of the base year Both GNP volume and price level GNP volume only CU 120 CU 120 / 1.13 = CU 106.2
Calculated
reflects
changes
(with inflation 13%) 4.1.4. Differences between nominal and real GNP
3. Net national product is the difference between GDP and depreciation
4. National income is the total income of all economic agents among material and non-material production
5. Personal income - income actually received. After paying taxes and social contributions, it acts as personal income
6. National wealth - the totality of natural resources, created means of production, material wealth, scientific achievements, cultural values, educational and qualification potential that the country has
BASIC TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Gross domestic product
Gross national product
Macroeconomics
national income
national wealth
System of National Accounts
net national product
Macroeconomics It is an independent branch of economic science that studies not only the national economies of individual countries, but the entire world economy. Consider the economy as a whole on a national scale, as a national economy. National economy- a system of social reproduction that has historically formed within certain territorial limits.
The national economy pursues the following goals:
- the economic growth;
- stable price level;
- maintaining an equilibrium trade balance;
- security certain level employment of the population;
- social support for vulnerable segments of the population.
There are several classifications of the macro market:
- reproductive aspect:
To measure the national economy, which consists of many different micromarkets, it is necessary to summarize (aggregate) information about the markets of individual goods and services. Aggregation – static connection set of individual micro-markets into one market in order to determine the aggregate (total) national production and the aggregate price level. Thus, for the implementation of macroeconomic accounting, the so-called system of national accounts was developed. The system of national accounts developed by the UN has been used in practice since 1953 and provides information on the scale and dynamics of social production, on unemployment and inflation levels, on changes in the country's exports and imports, etc.
The System of National Accounts consists of the following statistics: gross national product, gross domestic product and national income.
1. Gross national product (GNP)- this is the market value of all final goods and services created by the country for a certain period (year, month) with the help of factors of production owned by the citizens of this country. It includes the value of domestically produced products located both within the country and abroad.
There are three ways to calculate the gross national product:
- income calculation(by income stream), which summarizes the income of individuals and enterprises, as the sum of the rewards of owners of factors of production:
a) wages of employees;
b) interest on capital;
c) the profit of entrepreneurs;
d) the rent of landowners;
e) indirect taxes on enterprises;
f) depreciation deductions (accumulations of enterprises to restore worn-out fixed assets); - cost calculation(according to the flow of expenses), in which all expenses for the acquisition of the final product are summarized:
a) personal consumer spending of the population (spending by citizens of the country on the purchase of food, clothing, shoes, etc.);
b) gross private investment in the national economy (private investment in business development, purchase of equipment, etc.);
c) public procurement of goods and services (expenses for the maintenance of the administrative apparatus at all levels);
d) net exports (the difference between exports and imports in a given country); - production calculation, at which the summation of the costs of goods and services produced by all enterprises of the country.
There are two types of products:
- intermediate product are goods and services intended either for further processing or for resale;
- final products These are products that go directly to personal consumption.
There are concepts of nominal, real and potential GNP:
- nominal GNP is the gross final product calculated in current current (actual) prices;
- real GNP - gross product calculated in comparable prices of a particular year;
- potential GNP is the projected GNP under the most favorable conditions. The coefficient for converting the value of GNP into comparable prices is called the deflator.
The deflator is an indicator that helps to take into account how much the gross national product has increased due to price increases; calculated by the formula:
GNP Deflator = (Nominal GNP) / (Real GNP).
2. Unlike GNP gross domestic product (GDP) covers the annual value of all final products created within a given country by both domestic and foreign manufacturers.
3. Net national product (NNP)- an indicator of economic development, which is determined by subtracting deductions from the GNP for the restoration of depreciated physical capital (depreciation deductions). Thus, NNP shows the volume of final goods and services that a country can use without compromising its own productive capital.
4. National Income (ND)- an indicator representing the difference between NNP and the amount of indirect taxes and is formed as the sum of wages, interest on capital, rents and profits. National income is income earned but not received. On the one hand, the state taxes all types of income, on the other hand, it returns part of the funds in the form of transfer payments to pensioners, large families, the disabled, the unemployed, etc.
5. Personal income (LD) is a measure derived from national income minus social security contributions, taxes on firm profits, and the addition of transfers. Personal income is also subject to taxation.
6. disposable personal income is the amount of money that households are free to spend on consumption and savings. It is formed from personal income minus personal taxes (income tax, property tax, etc.). The question of the formation of disposable personal income concerns every citizen.
- income calculation(by income stream), which summarizes the income of individuals and enterprises, as the sum of the rewards of owners of factors of production:
Macroeconomics, the national economy, the national economy, the economy of the country as a whole - all these are identical concepts that characterize the system of social reproduction that has historically developed within certain territorial boundaries.
The national economy bears the imprint of historical, natural-geographical, political and socio-economic features that distinguish it from other countries in the world community.
Macroeconomic theory is a branch of economic theory that helps to find out how the economic system functions at the level of the country s business. It singles out, generalizes, and, when possible, measures mass socio-economic phenomena, which in their totality determine the process of reproduction, its results and their change within the economic system as a whole. The macroeconomic system is the result of the interaction of many of its relatively independent economic entities. In its simplest form, the structure of the national economy can be represented as a diagram (Fig. 1).
Rice. / Structure of the national economy Reproduction at the country level is not a simple sum of results
individual enterprises. The economic activity of enterprises in the course of their
interaction gives new result, which is not only a consequence, but also a condition for the further development of each enterprise and the system as a whole.
The interaction of economic entities at the macro level is an objectively necessary process due to the division of labor in society. This process is practically manifested in the form of economic interests of business entities that have a contradictory nature. Achieving balance in the complex system of economic interests of society is one of the most difficult functions of the modern state. In many ways, the problem of coordinating economic interests in a market economy is solved through the mechanism of competition. However, on present stage in the context of an increased tendency towards monopolization, the market economy does not ensure the achievement of an optimal balance in the system of interests without state intervention. For the normal functioning of the economy at the country level, the state is called upon to maintain a competitive environment, ensure the redistribution of income, adopt laws and fine-tune their implementation while coordinating economic interests between labor and capital.
Whereas microeconomics deals with the price of an individual commodity in a particular market, macroeconomics deals with the "price level", i.e. the average of all prices in all markets and for a very wide category of goods. Microeconomics is interested in wage levels and the number of employed and unemployed in the private labor market, in the production of a certain type of product, macroeconomics studies the problem of all employed in the country, the average wage level of all workers, the total number of unemployed, etc.
The main functional purpose of the national economy is to meet the ever-increasing and rising socio-economic needs of the entire population of the country. Macroeconomic analysis is primarily intended to give an answer to how effectively this main problem of the national economy is being solved.
At the country level, patterns of socio-economic development, new phenomena and trends are revealed, which are taken into account in the economic activities of all subjects. At the level of firms, economic laws are practically realized.
The economic processes studied at the macro level are grouped into categories. These are the gross social product, national income, the efficiency of social production, the accumulation fund, etc.
The subjects of macroeconomic processes are not individual economic entities (employee, entrepreneur, manager, etc.), but broader categories of “actors”: the population, labor resources, the self-employed population, the unemployed.
The purpose of macroeconomic analysis is to identify the current situation in the socio-economic development of the country based on the use of indicators that objectively reflect the process of reproduction.
Identification of the real situation with resources, employment, dynamics of production development and its economic efficiency, incomes of the population contributes to the determination of the economic behavior of each of the economic entities. The results of economic activity at the country level concern each of its citizens. Not only the working, but the entire population must have economic knowledge in order to adequately respond to changes in the socio-economic situation in the country. This need is justified by the Swedish economist Eklund: if the citizens of the country are economically illiterate, then a small group of people will make economic decisions, and it’s good if they are qualified, but if not, then everyone will have to pay.
Macroeconomics is the sphere of activity of the state, the government of the country, all its economic, social and legal services. The whole difficulty in developing an economic strategy by the government lies in the fact that macroeconomic theories and their numerous authors do not provide ready-made recipes for what a market economy should be like for a country to prosper. To develop an economically and socially effective strategy, it is necessary not only to know economic theories, but also a deep, objective analysis of the current situation in the national economy, both for a long and current period.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that economics is not among the exact ones, not only because its theoretical hypotheses cannot be confirmed or refuted experimentally, but also because the economic life of society is subject to continuous changes, as a result of which economic theory is also constantly evolving; moreover, economics as a study of human behavior cannot avoid biased judgments, which finds expression in different, often opposing views on the same problem.
Given the inaccuracy and inconsistency of the recommendations of theorists in solving macroeconomic problems, the government, when developing an effective macroeconomic policy, is forced to focus on common sense and the ability to critically comprehend not only economic reality, but also theories prevailing in society.
The most important conditions for achieving the goal of macroeconomic analysis are: 1) the availability of statistical data that objectively reflects the statics and dynamics of the main macroeconomic indicators; 2) a global, historical approach to the analysis of the country's national economy; 3) recognition of the perniciousness of interference in the country's economy without a realistic assessment of the potential of the economic system and without knowledge of objectively operating economic laws; 4) understanding that macroeconomic theory is created on the basis of an objective study of the economy of a particular country and the results of this particular study can be used in the practice of other countries with great care; 5) the orientation of production to the growth of incomes and consumption of the entire population of the country, or, in the opinion of
Western economists, to ensure social security, which involves maintaining socially acceptable differences > income levels of the country's population; 6) understanding that the only source of growth in incomes of the population, political and social stability is the sustainable effective growth of domestic production, providing jobs and increasing the incomes of the entire population of the country.
The foundations of macroeconomic theory are laid down in classical political economy. Macroeconomic theory reached a certain completeness in the teachings of K. Marx and his followers.
Theorists of the non-classical theory of marginal utility transfer analysis from the macro level to the level of the firm, examining its behavior in various competitive conditions.
Such an emphasis in economic analysis was justified to a certain extent in connection with the complication of the problem of exchange under the influence of technological progress and the growth of labor productivity in the second half of the 19th century.
Macroeconomic analysis was in demand in practice in the 1930s almost simultaneously in the market economy of Western countries and in the emerging directive-planned economic model in the USSR.
The great socio-economic upheavals of the 1930s in Western Europe and the USA required government intervention in the market economy. In increasingly complex relationships, the market mechanism no longer automatically worked. The problem of balancing supply and demand in the markets of goods, labor, money and capital could be solved to a greater or lesser extent only with the help of state economic regulation.
For the first time, the tendency of the objective necessity of state intervention in the market economy was identified, substantiated and, to a certain extent, practically implemented by John Keynes. Thus, J. Keynes laid the foundation for a new direction in political economy - the theory of state regulation of a market economy.
The main work of Keynes, in which for the first time his theory and program of state regulation of the market economy were presented in a systematic way, is “ General theory employment, interest and money" (1936). Keynes's theory has found wide circulation in Western economic literature and has acquired numerous supporters in the USA, England and other countries (A. Hansen, R. Harrod, J. Robinson, A. Lerner, E. Domar, and others). This direction in economic theory was called "Keynesianism" and had a huge impact on the development and implementation of state economic policy.
J. Keynes is rightfully called the founder of the macroeconomic section in political economy, which reflects the growing role of the state in a market economy. Keynes made an attempt to identify the main functional patterns in the development of the country's social production, influencing which the state could eliminate crisis phenomena in the economy and maintain its normal functioning.
Keynes defined the goal of his macroeconomic analysis as follows: "Our ultimate goal may be the selection of such variables that are amenable to conscious control or management by the central authorities within the economic system in which we live."
The subject of Keynes' research is the quantitative functional interdependence between such economic indicators as capital investment and national income; consumption and saving; investment and employment; the amount of money in circulation, the level of prices, wages, profits and interest, etc.
Keynes seeks to predict the country's economic development based on the analysis of macroeconomic indicators, for which he uses such categories as expected profit, marginal efficiency of capital, expected changes in prices, the value of money, interest, and others that are inevitably probabilistic.
Like the theorists of marginal utility, Keynes considers exchange to be the decisive phase of the process of reproduction. In this regard, among the main functions of state regulation is the impact on demand, which makes it possible to weaken or even prevent crises in a market economy. For England and the United States of the pre-war period, exchange as the main sphere of state regulation was of practical importance.
Keynes's theory thus reflected objective trends in the development of the economy.
However, after the Second World War, the situation changed - as a result of the scientific and technological revolution, the importance of the state increased in the development of a scientific and technological strategy and the mechanism for its implementation, in financing fundamental research and development of R&D, in the development of social and business services, etc.
A generalization of the experience of the development of Japan and the newly industrialized countries shows that the economic role of the state in achieving success in socio-economic development is now much more complex and multifaceted in comparison with the pre-war period. In order to achieve the socio-economic progress of the country, the modern state “intervenes” not only in exchange, but also in all other phases of the reproduction process, and above all in the rates, factors and efficiency of economic growth.
As already noted, simultaneously with the Western macroeconomic theory, the theory of state regulation of the economy was formed, reflecting the Soviet model of management.
The economy of the former USSR was based on the almost undivided dominance of state ownership of the means of production. Like any owner of the means of production, the Soviet state, represented by its
(. penial organs carried out economic regulation in all fascism of the reproduction process and at all its organizational levels.
The market and commodity-money relations in the Soviet economic model had, in essence, a formal meaning. The entire surplus product was withdrawn to the state budget and from there, in accordance with the plan and at the direction of the central authorities, it was sent to the national economy to finance social and economic programs.
The main part of the theory of state regulation under socialism is national economic planning. Planning is current, medium-, long-term in nature and permeates all spheres and types of human activity.
A huge literature on planning problems has been accumulated in the USSR, including G. M. Krzhizhanovsky, S. G. Strumilin, and others who have gained international fame. development with a wide use of economic and mathematical methods (L.V. Kantorovich, N.P. Fedorenko, V.V. Novozhilov, V.A. Volkonsky, etc.). The method of national economic planning and the USSR had a huge impact on the development of plans and forecasts for the development of the economy in a market economy.
Assessing the economic role of the state in the Soviet economic model, it should be noted that under the conditions of complete domination of state ownership of the means of production and the concentration of political power in the center, there is no alternative to state intervention in all aspects of the country's economic life and directive national economic cyanidation.
