Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
On the correction of some provisions of theoretical economics
https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2025-5-66-82
Abstract
It is shown that the continuation of the discussion on individualism and holism can have a more general scientific justification on the basis of multidisciplinary approach and achievements of modern philosophy and sociology. As a result of introducing the principle of methodological relativism into economic theory and distinguishing four relatively independent relativist doctrines, the article presents the peculiarities of relativist methodology, which is based on two fundamental statements about the impossibility of existence of objectively neutral criteria for choosing between conflicting alternatives and that these alternatives themselves arise in different cultural contexts. An important consequence of this approach is the new research results in the field of the theory of patronized goods — that part of the economy where the state participates in financing the production of goods and services with social utility. A significant part of the work is devoted to new results: it is about proving the necessity to return to a strict dichotomy in the definition of public goods (according to Samuelson) and the introduction of a new category of “normative-public goods”, the properties of non-excludability and non-competitiveness of which are acquired in the process of purposeful actions of the state, in the extreme case of the policy of meritization of private goods and services. The new results also include the construction of an equilibrium model for patronized goods, an important consequence of which is the justification of an alternative exegetics of the Harberger triangle, which became a theoretical proof of the rehabilitation of the category of budgetary subsidy.
Keywords
individualism,
holism,
relativistic methodology,
individual
utility,
social utility,
patronized goods,
budget subsidy,
Harberger’s triangle.
JEL: A14, B41, D50, D78, H10, H41
About the Author
A. Y. Rubinstein
Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexander Y. Rubinstein
Moscow
References
1. Atkinson E. B., Stiglitz J. E. (1995). Lectures on the economic theory of the public sector: A textbook. Moscow: Aspect Press. (In Russian).
2. Blaug M. (1994). Economic theory in retrospect. Moscow: Delo. (In Russian).
3. Bourdieu P. (2001). The logic of practice. St. Petersburg: Aletheia. (In Russian).
4. Bhaskar R. (1991). Societies. In: Socio-logos: Society and spheres of meaning. Issue 1. Moscow: Progress, pp. 219—240. (In Russian).
5. Wittgenstein L. (1994). Philosophical works, Ch. I. Moscow: Gnozis (In Russian).
6. Zaostrovtsev A. П. (2024). State: Predatory nature vs. civil society. Journal of the New Economic Association, No. 4, рр. 237—244. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.31737/22212264_2024_4_237-244
7. Crozier M. (1993). A modern state is a modest state. Another strategy for change. Svobodnaya Mysl, No. 11, pp. 35—43. (In Russian).
8. Nelson R. R., Winter S. J. (2002). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Moscow: Delo. (In Russian).
9. Rubinstein A. Y. (2009). On theory of markets of paternalistic services. Article II: Sociodynamic description of the markets of paternalistic services. Social Sciences and Contemporary World, No. 2, рр. 138—150. (In Russian).
10. Rubinstein A. Y. (2022). Paternalistic state: Academic science and scientific journals. Voprosy Ekonomiki, No. 9, рр. 139—177. (In Russian).] https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2022-9-139-157
11. Rubinstein A. Y. (2024). General theory of paternalistic goods. St. Petersburg: Aleteia. (In Russian).
12. Rubinstein A. Y. (2025a). Economic sociodynamics and its legacy: А quarter of a century later. (Preprint). Moscow: Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
13. Rubinstein A. Y. (2025b). From economic sociodynamics to relativistic methodology. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences, [forthcoming]. (In Russian).
14. Rubinstein A. Y., Slavinskaya O. A., Burakov N. A. (2024). New paradigm of budgetary financing of patronized benefits of the humanitarian sector. Moscow: Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. (In Russian).
15. Rubinstein A. Y., Chukovskaya E. E. (2024a). Science, knowledge and intellectual property: Тen years later. Part 1. Economics and Mathematical Methods, Vol. 59, No. 1, pр. 5—19. (In Russian).] https://doi.org/10.31857/S0424738824010014
16. Rubinstein A. Y., Chukovskaya E. E. (2024b). Science, knowledge and intellectual property: Тen years later. Part 2. Economics and Mathematical Methods, Vol. 60, No. 2, рp. 5—13. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.31857/S0424738824020017
17. Stiglitz J. E. (1997). Economics of the public sector. Moscow: Infra-M. (In Russian).
18. Taylor C. (2001). Indivisibly social goods. Neprikosnovennyi Zapas, No. 4, pp. 7—18. (In Russian).
19. Tikhonova N. E., Latov Y. V., Latova N. V. (2023). Human capital of Russian professionals: State, dynamics, factors. M.: FCTAS RAS. (In Russian).
20. Chubarova T. V. (2023). Medicine and health care. In: A. Y. Rubinstein (ed.). Humanitarian sector of the paternalistic state. St. Petersburg: Aleteia, pp. 197—223. (In Russian).
21. Schumpeter J. A. (2004). History of economic analysis. Vol. 1. St. Peterburg: Ekonomicheskaya Shkola. (In Russian).
22. Hume D. (2021 [1739]). A treatise on human nature. Мoscow: AST. (In Russian).
23. Yakobson L. I. (1996). Economics of the public sector. Fundamentals of the theory of public finance. Moscow: Aspect Press. (In Russian).
24. Yakobson L. I. (2000). Public sector of the economy: Еconomic theory and policy. Moscow: HSE Publ. (In Russian).
25. Agassi J. (1973). Methodological individualism. In: J. O’Neill (ed.). Modes of individualism and collectivism. London: Heinemann, pp. 185—212.
26. Baghramian M. (2004). The many faces of relativism. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315780153
27. Baumol W. J. (1965). Welfare economics and the theory of the state. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
28. Baumol W. J. (1967). Macroeconomics of unbalanced growth: The anatomy of urban crisis. American Economic Review, Vol. 57, No. 3, pр. 415—442.
29. Baumol W. J., Bowen W. G. (1966). Performing arts: The economic dilemma. A study of problems common to theatre, opera, music and dance. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.
30. Brennan G., Lomasky L. (1983). Institutional aspects of “merit goods” analysis. FinanzArchiv, Vol. 41, No. 2, рр. 183—206.
31. Buchanan J., Musgrave R. (2000). Public finance and public choice: Two contrasting visions of the state. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/5688.001.0001
32. Fernandez R., Palazuelos E. (2012). European Union economies facing ‘Baumol’s disease’ within the service sector. Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 231—249. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2011.02222.x
33. Foray D. (2004). The economics of knowledge. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2613.001.0001
34. Giddens A. (1984). The constitution of society. Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.
35. Ginsburgh A., Throsby D. (eds.) (2006). Handbook on the economics of art and culture. Amsterdam: North Holland.
36. Globerman S., Book S. H. (1974). Statistical cost function’s for performing arts organizations. Southern Economy Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 668—671. https://doi.org/10.2307/1056386
37. Grossman M. (1972). On the concept of health capital and the demand for health. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 80, No. 2, рp. 223—255. https://doi.org/10.1086/259880
38. Harberger A. C. (1964). The measurement of waste. American Economic Review, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 58—76.
39. Heilbrun J. (2003). Baumol’s cost disease. In: R. Towse (ed.). A handbook of cultural economics. Cheltenham and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, pp. 91—101. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781008003.00017
40. James R. H. (1999). Three sides of Harberger triangles. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 13, No. 2, pр. 167—188. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.13.2.167
41. Knorr-Cetina K. (1984). Die Fabrikation von Erkenntnis: Zur Anthropologie der Naturwissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
42. Krueger A. (1990). Government failures in development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 4, No. 3, рр. 9—23. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.4.3.9
43. Lindahl E. (1967 [1919]). Just taxation — a positive solution. In: R. A. Musgrave, A. T. Peacock (eds.). Classics in the theory of public finance. London: MacMillan, pp. 168—176.
44. Musgrave R. A. (1959). The theory of public finance. New York: McGraw-Hill.
45. Musgrave R. A. (1969). Fiscal systems. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
46. Musgrave R. A. (1983). Public goods. In: E. C. Brown, R. M. Solow (еds.). Paul Samuelson and modern economic theory. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 141—156.
47. Musgrave R. A. (1996). Public finance and finanzwissenschaft traditions compared. FinanzArchiv, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 145—193.
48. Neck R., Getzner M.(2007). Austrian government expenditures: Wagners law or Baumols disease? International Business & Economics Research, Vol. 6, No. 11, рр. 49—66. https://doi.org/10.19030/iber.v6i11.3428
49. Nordhaus W. (2008). Baumol’s diseases: A macroeconomic perspective. B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, Vol. 8, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1690.1382
50. Pomp M., Vujic S. (2008). Rising health spending, new medical technology and the Baumol effect. CPB Discussion Paper, No. 115.
51. Putnam H. (1987). Truth and convention: On Davidson’s refutation of conceptual relativism. Dialectica, Vol. 41, No. 1—2, рp. 69—77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-8361.1987.tb00880.x
52. Rorty R. (1982). Consequences of pragmatism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
53. Samuelson P. A. (1954). The pure theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 387—389. https://doi.org/10.2307/1925895
54. Schmidt K. (1988). Mehr zur Meritorik. Kritisches und Alternatives zu der Lehre von den öffentlichen Gütern. Journal of Contextual Economics — Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 108, No. 3, pp. 383—403. https://doi.org/10.3790/schm.108.3.383
55. Stebbins R. (2017). Leisure’s legacy: Challenging the commonsense view of free time. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59794-2
56. Thaler R. H., Shefrin H. M. (1981). Control. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 89. No. 2, pp. 392—406. https://doi.org/10.1086/260971
57. Touraine A. (2005). Un nouveau paradigm. Pour comprendre le monde d’aujourd’hui. Paris: Fayard.
58. Westermarck E. (1912). The origin and development of moral ideas, Vols. 1—2. London: Macmillan.
Supplementary files
Review
For citations:
Rubinstein A.Y. On the correction of some provisions of theoretical economics. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2025;(5):66-82. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2025-5-66-82
Views:
211
Email this article 
