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Matched Legal Cases: ['art. 92', 'art 2', 'art. 345', 'art. 49', 'art. 57', 'art. 4', 'art. 7', 'art. 10', 'art. 8', 'art. 4', 'art. 13', 'art. 360', 'art. 192', 'art. 14', 'art. 2']

Economic System of Yugoslavia | Capitalism | Socialism
speichernEconomic System of Yugoslavia für später speichern
Jeff Shantz: Re-Building Infrastructures of Resistance
IwrndolLibsnatian Sad& Vol 2. No. 3, pp. 243 -268.
0 Pcrgamon Prcs Ltd. 1918. Printed in Grca
Brioin.
MARKETS, TRUE AND FALSE: THE CASE OF YUGOSLAVIA*
Deportment of Economics, Towson State University, Ballimore, Maryland
This paper will discuss the emergence and
shortcomings of Yugoslav market socialism.
The central theme is that markets without
saleable property rights are an illusion. As
Mises and Hayek have so clearly demonstrated,
truly competitive markets require individual
freedom and hence private property rights.
Property rights are important because they help
determine the actions individuals can take and
the rewards that can be captured. It will be
shown that although the Yugoslavs have
approached a market-type economy, the lack of
saleable claims to present values has tied
workers to their fir? s. This constraint, together
with the institution of workers' management,
has prevented true capital and labor markets
from emerging in Yugoslavia. Hence, nonhuman and human capital tend to be misallocated.~'i The significance of this paper lies
in a further clarification of the rule of property
rights in shaping incentives and behavior under
We begin by considering the function of
private property rights in a free market
economy and the consequences for individual
freedom when such rights are abolished. Next
the case of Yugoslav market socialism is
considered. First we explore the reasons that
Yugoslavia switched from central planning to
decentralized market socialism. We then
examine some of the highlights of the 1961 and
1965 economic reforms. In particular, we
observe their effects on the distribution structure and workers' claims to enterprise income.
Finally, some implications of the reforms are
The original version of this paper was delivered at the
Fifth Annual Libertarian Scholars Conference, held in October 1977 at Princeton University. Part of this research w a
done at the University of Virginia and was supported by the
Thomas Jefferson Center Foundation.
considered. First, employment and investment
behavior is discussed for "capital-rich" and
"capital-poor" firms and industries.lzlWe then
examine the impact of the reforms on interfirm
and interindustry personal income-per-worker
differentials, along with their implications for
resource misallocation.
I. MARKETS WITHOUT PROPERTY:
Private enterprise rests on the individual's
right to own non-human capital. Private
property is characterized by (1) the freedom of
choice in the use of property, (2) the freedom to
buy and sell property - both part of individual
freedom under private enterprise, and (3) the
owner's right to capture income from (1) and
(Z).I3' The effectiveness of appropriability is
important because it affects one's incentive to
direct resources to their highest valued uses.
Appropriability, of course, is shaped by the
existing set of institutions plus transactions
c0sts.I41
The distinguishing feature of private "forprofit" firms is the exclusive right of owners to
capitalize future expected income into its
present value. This is made possible, of course,
by the existence of capital markets in which
owners can buy and sell ownership claims,
including claims to current residual income.
Hence, saleability of rights to present values
means private owners will immediately bear the
current and future value consequences of their
present actions. For example, if the private
capitalist misdirects investment, the lower
future expected profits will immediately be
capitalized in a lower market price of his assets
or stock shares. Under private enterprise,
therefore, the owner will have a strong incentive to monitor managerial behavior affecting
the firm's present value. In fact, this so-called
"profit motive" is the driving force in the
private enterprise, free-market economy.'51
Saleability of property rights also allows
individuals to specialize in ownership and
risk-taking. Consequently, under private enterprise, ownership claims will tend to be held by
those individuals most adept at directing capital
to its highest valued uses.I6l In sum, the benefits
which emerge spontaneously from competitive
capital markets depend on individual freedom
to invest and organize production, and to
capture the consequent rewards. That is, they
depend on effective private property rights. The
effectiveness of such rights, of course, depends
on stable government by law; for unless
government is limited by the "rule of law",
private property would be f i c t i t i ~ u s . ' ~ ~
Ludwig von Mises has demonstrated that
without private ownership of the means of
production and money prices, economic calculation is impossible.lsl He was reacting to the
notion that pure socialism could abolish scarcity prices and still achieve an efficient allocation of resources. However, he also questioned
whether quasi-markets for the means of production could replace private capital markets.
It is here that Mises is yet to be fully heard.
Many socialists, for example, believe in the
possibility of imitating the free capital market
without allowing private ownership. Hence, it
is useful to review Mises's line-of-argument.19'
Mises explained that without real competition based on private property rights,
socialist markets could not duplicate the market
process. He reasoned that without the right to
capture present values, no one would have an
incentive to find the least-cost production
methods, nor to search for the highest valued
uses of resources. In fact, since resource prices
would be distorted, it would be impossible to
minimize real costs. Hence, resources would
tend to be misallocated.
Socialists, however, claim that decentralized
socialism is possible since socialist managers
could be instructed to act "as if" they were
managing a private "for-profit" firm. Moreover they assume that the "instructors" would
possess all the relevant knowledge available to
market participants. Hence, quasi-markets in
the means of production could emerge, even
though no one could appropriate the returns to
capital. Mises, of course, sees this as wishful
thinking, since it is unlikely that socialist
managers would seek to increase their firm's
wealth when the state would capture it.
Moreover, no state agency would know how to
efficiently direct the uses of resources, since the
relevant information is dispersed among
numerous individuals. Finally, government
bureaucrats would have little incentive to
enforce the present value maximization rule,
since they have to share any profits or losses
Mises has emphasized that competitive prices
and profits are important only in a changing
economy. In such an economy, capital must
continuously be shifted from one use to another
as consumer preferences change. The role of
prices and profits is to guide the behavior of
entrepreneurs and capitalists. Moreover, it is a
mistake to think that the information contained
in these signals is given; rather, it is the rmult of
a continuous search process on the part of
entrepreneurs and capitalists for higher returns
on investment. The delusion of market socialists is that they think factor prices will
automatically be known once product prices are
determined. However, we know from Mises
It is not possible to eliminate from such markets the
influence of the supply of capital from the capitalists
and the demand for capital by the entrepreneurs,
without destroying the mechanism itself.llal
Nevertheless, socialists persist in thinking
that the state can achieve an optimum allocation of investment resources: the state simply
has to distribute funds to those managers
offering the highest return. These managers can
then direct resources to where consumers value
them most highly. The same objections that
were raised above, however, apply equally well
here. Socialists also fail to see that under
socialism the more optimistic managers would
tend to acquire investment funds, irrespective
of the opportunity cost of cupitul. Under
private enterprise, on the other hand, managerial opinion about prospective returns is never
the ultimate determinant of investment allocation. Instead, it is the judgment of capitalists
about expected profits and risk which is the
deciding factor. Needless to say, investment
decisions will be more rational when private
rather than public funds are used. Therefore,
much of the analogy that socialists make
between socialist managers and managers of
joint stock companies is misplaced. Only the
latter are effectively constrained by the incentive of private owners to enforce wealth
The above discussion implies that under any
form of socialism, the state must retain
effective ownership of the means of production. Mises's message is that if socialists
understood the market process, they would
have to grant individuals (a) the freedom to buy
and sell nonhuman capital, and (b) the right to
capture present values. However, this is precisely what they cannot do, if the essence of
socialism is to be retained. Meanwhile, the lack
of private property rights precludes the benefits
of spontaneous market order, and necessitates
deliberate investment planning. Consequently,
even under decentralized socialism individual
freedom will be precarious.
Friedrich von Hayek has also criticized
market socialism along Misesian lines. In
particular, he has expounded Mises's argument
that without effective appropriability, prices
and profits will be distorted. That is, they will
not reflect the relevant knowledge of alternatives possessed by individual market participants.l1'1 As Hayek says:
To assume that it is possible to create conditions of
full competition without making those who are
responsible for the decisions pay for their mistakes
seems to be pure illusion.""
Under private enterprise, individuals are
both free and encouraged to use their unique
knowledge to move resources to higher valued
uses. Of course, individual perceptions about
future profitability can be wrong. The benefit
of freedom, however, is that individual plans
can be quickly revised; thus increasing the
probability of attaining market-clearing prices.
In fact, only a small number of individuals need
act on their limited knowledge of alternatives to
generate socially beneficial results."' This is
because their limited individual fields of vision
sufficiently overlap so that through many intrrmcdiar.
ies the relevant information is communicated to all. "
Therefore, although no central list of investment alternatives is available, the free market,
in effect, generates such a result.l151 Hayek
criticizes socialists for failing to see that the
economic problem is largely one of rapidly
adjusting to changed circumstances, not known
in their entirety by any single mind."" Hence,
he rejects the notion that some "super-bank"
could deliberately bring about an efficient
allocation of capital based on "pseudocompetition". In fact, Hayek contends that
market socialism would probably be more
impractical than strict central planning; because, it tries to abolish central planning of
investment without establishing private property rights in the means of production.~"l
11. THE CASE OF YUGOSLAVIA
Emergence of Yugoslav market socialism
Yugoslav market socialism emerged in response to political-ideological disputes and was
enforced by the government; it was not the
result of spontaneous market forces. Furthermore, it seems that the designers of Yugoslav
market socialism were unfamiliar with the
earlier market socialist debate. There is no
evidence, for example, that the Yugoslav
leaders patterned their new institutional arrangement on Oscar Lange's model, or that
they were aware of the "Austrian" criticisms of
decentralized ~ocialism.~'~1
The initial inducement to abolish Soviet style
pla~~ningl'~'
came on June 28, 1948 when
Yugoslavia was expelled from the Communist
party alliance by Stalin's Cominform Resolution. Although Yugoslav party leaders had
criticized the excessive bureaucratization associated with Soviet style planning, and angered
Stalin by delaying collectivization of agriculture, their expulsion from the communist bloc
came as a shock. Hence, their initial reaction
was to placate Stalin by pushing forward with
central planning and collectivization. By 1950,
however, Yugoslav leaders were again reacting
to the imposition of strict central planning. In
particular, Boris Kidric, Edvard Kardelj, and
Milovan Djilas were openly promoting a
departure from the Soviet model.lzl Kidric was
the first to formulate a theoretical model of
market socialism; therefore let us examine his
position.lz1I
In 1950 Boris Kidric, chairman of the
Yugoslav planning commission, laid out blueprints for decentralizing the Yugoslav economy.lzzlUsing the notion of "socialist commodity production", Kidric argued that during the
transition to communism, the limited use of
markets would not be inconsistent with Marxism, correctly interpreted. By "socialist commodity production", he meant social rather
than state ownership of the means of production and production by semi-autonomous,
worker-managed enterprises. According to
Kidric, social ownership would differ from
state ownership, since workers would he given
control over the means of production.lW1
Besides giving worker-managed enterprises
the right to use capital assets, Kidric proposed
the following changes: (1) Enterprises were to
he made economically responsible for their
operations; (2) workers were to participate in
the planning process, including the right to
implement the state's investment plans; and (3)
workers' councils were to acquire the right to
distribute that part of enterprise income in
excess of the planned amount. Any such
"residual income" could then be used to
increase personal income and/or be reinvested
in the firm.li41
The implementation of Kidric's scheme
required dismantling the central planning apparatus, which by 1950 had become quite
entrenched. Moreover, prices would have to be
decontrolled and markets reestablished for
commodities and the nonhuman factors of
production. The first step along these lines
came in July, 1950 when the "Law on
Management of Enterprises by Workers' Collectives" was passed.lz51This law provided for
workers' management and reorganized the
ministerial system of central planning. In
December, 1951, the "Law on Planned Management of the National Economy" was
ena~ted.1~~'
This law provided for the decentralization of production planning. By the end of
1952 the general directorates and supply alloca-
tion plan had been abolished, giving enterprises
greater autonomy in production planning.
Furthermore, many prices were decontrolled by
this time.l2'1
In December, 1953 enterprises were given
social ownership of their capital assets by the
"Law on Management of Fixed Capital by
Enterprises".Iz8' According to Pejovich, it was
this law that signaled the de facto turning point
in the Yugoslav system.lwl The subsequent
transition to market socialism, however, was
slow. It wasn't until the 1957, 1961 and 1965
economic reforms that enterprises gained effective rights vis-d-vis the state. These reforms
introduced the so-called "net income system"
of distribution, and gave enterprises more
autonomy over employment and investment
decision^.'^^ Before discussing these reforms,
let us consider the two basic features of
Yugoslav market socialism: workers' selfmanagement and social ownership.
Much has been written about workers'
management, and need not be repeated here.l3'I
Rather, our purpose is to describe the basic
rights and duties of the council, the management board, and the director.
The workers' council. Council members are
elected and can be dismissed by a majority vote
of the collective. The council consists of 15 to
150 members elected for two-year terms.
Three-fourths of the council must be production workers.lul The council has the right to
determine what to produce and how to organize
production.lml These rights, however, have
been restricted by price control^.^^^ The council
is also responsible for labor relations. The 1957
"Law on Labour Relations" delegated the
council the right to hire, fire, and discipline
w0rkers.1~~'
It also provided for the adoption of
the "Rules on Labour Relations", by which the
council specifies employment ~onditions.1~'
However these rules must be submitted to a
special commission for appr~val.@~l
In 1957, the council acquired the legal right
to distribute net income between personal
incomes and "funds".~"~ This right, however,
did not become highly effective until 1965
because of various external constraints, which
will be discussed later. The council specified its
distribution policy in its by-laws until 1961;
thereafter distribution was internally regulated
by the council's adoption of the "Rules on the
Distribution of Net I n c ~ m e " . ~ ~ ~ l
Another important right acquired by the
Council in 1957 was the right to determine
personal incomes, i.e. the right to prepare the
pay scale.lal As we shall see, however, this right
was narrowly limited until 1961, when the
council acquired the right to independently
adopt its "Rules on the Distribution of
Personal income^".^^^^ These rules state that
the council should determine relative pay rates
based on such criteria as education and skill
level, job responsibility, and working conditions.lul
At this point it is worthwhile to consider the
process of income distribution in Yugoslav
enterprises.Ia1 The process begins when the
council holds a general meeting at the end of
the year to discuss distribution policy for the
coming year. After hearing workers' opinions,
the council decides the division of planned net
income between personal incomes and funds.
The planned amount of personal incomes is
then "pre-distributed" among the workers
according to the pay scale. Workers, of course,
will not know their actual personal incomes
until the end of the year when the final accounts
are settled. If the planned net income is
achieved each month, workers will receive the
full rate of pay according to the pay scale.
Otherwise, they will receive proportionately
more or less depending on whether the realized
net income exceeds or falls short of the planned
amount. Their personal incomes, however,
cannot be reduced below the minimum guaranteed by law.lU1In fact, Rikard Stajner points
out that if the enterprise cannot meet the
minimum personal income rate out of its reserve fund, the local commune must make up
the differenceP This, of course, will dull
incentives to place resources in their highest
valued uses.
The board of management.1461Board members are elected and dismissed by the council.
The board consists of 3 to 11 members
including the director, who is an ex officio
member. Members are elected for one year and
are limited to a maximum of two consecutive
terms. Board members, like council members,
are not entitled to remuneration for their
official duties. During their term of office,
however, they cannot be fired or transferred to
another job without their c~nsent.'~'l The
duties of the board members are as follows. (1)
They must submit periodical management
reports to the council and assist in preparing the
enterprise's statute, rules, and plans. (2) They
must implement the council's policy decisions,
other than those executed by the director. And,
(3) they must monitor the director and his staff
to ensure that their behavior conforms to the
council's policy objectives
most important function.'"l Various rights may
be delegated to the board by the council. For
example, the council may give the board the
rights to: (a) decide upon the utilization of
enterprise funds up to a specified amount, and
(b) appoint and dismiss executives, except the
director, subject to the council's approval.1"'
Moreover, whenever the director's position is
vacant, the board has the right to occupy it
until a new director is appointed.lwl
Thedirector.I5'l The director plays an important part in the day-to-day operation of the
enterprise. He also has the competence and
position to influence the council's policy
decisions. Of course his actual influence will be
affected by his persuasive powers.lY1 Some of
the more important rights of the director are:
(1) The right to negotiate and sign contracts for
specified amounts in the enterprise's name.lml
(2) The right to impose limited disciplinary
measures. (3) The right to make proposals to
the council regarding business operations. (4)
The right to nullify any decision taken by the
council or management board that is illegal.15d1
Other rights may be delegated to the director by
the council; these are specified in the enterprise's statute, its rules, and its regulation~.l~~I
The procedure for hiring and firing the
director should be noted. As of 1958, the
director's employment status was determined
by the Communal People's Committee. The
1963 Constitution transferred the right to
appoint and dismiss the director to the workers'
council. The Constitution, however, still required the joint selection commission to hold a
JAMES A. W R N
public competition, and submit a list of no
more than three candidates to the workers'
council. This stipulation tends to limit the
council's choice of director.lS1 Furthermore,
any request for the director's dismissal must be
approved by the joint commi~sion.l~~l
In effect, the director is the legal guardian
and technical manager of the enterprise. He is
therefore somewhat of an intermediary between
the state and the council. Moreover, unlike a
private entrepreneur owner, the Yugoslav director's opportunity set is limited by the
council's right to ratify major decisions; and his
powers flow from the state. Hence, the director
is in a rather tenuous position.lSsl
On the other hand, recall that workers are
not remunerated for time spent at council
meetings, etc. This implies that as the opportunity cost to workers of performing managerial functions increases, less of that activity
should be observed, ceteris paribus. In fact,
there has recently been some movement toward
specialization in managerial functions. V.
TriEkoviE, for example, suggested in 1969 that a
contractual relationship be established between
the council and the professional staff, including
the director. The professional managers' reappointment and pay would then depend on
realizing the goals set by the c o ~ n c i l . l ~Such
scheme was actually introduced by Sava, a
Slovenian rubber factory, in 1 9 7 0 P It is too
soon to tell, however, what implications such
arrangements might have for the future of
workers' self-management in Yugoslavia.
Ever since 1950 the Yugoslavs have been
confronted with the problem of property rights.
That is, they have been concerned with defining
the enterprise's bundle of rights to take various
actions and capture rewards vis-d-vis the
state.I6'1 The establishment of private property
rights, of course, was out of the question. State
ownership, however, was also rejected, since
enterprises would have virtually no control over
capital goods. Hence, in December 1953,
Yugoslavia established "social ownership"P
Under this rights structure, workers' councils
were given the right to use and dispose of the
"social property" entrusted to their enter-
prise~.'~~
The council's right of use is exclusive in the
sense that the social assets at the firm's disposal
cannot be removed except by lawlml
council has the sole authority to delegate the
right of use and disposal to the management
board and director. Nevertheless, Yugoslav law
provides for the following restrictions.lE1 (1)
Enterprises must maintain the "book value" of
their assets.lSsl That is, the council must (a) set
aside monies for depreciation of fixed assets
and (b) provide for capital losses resulting from
the "sale" or misuse of capital goods before
distributing personal incomes. (2) Enterprises
must pay a tax on the book value of their fixed
and working capital funds. Finally, (3) enterprises must reinvest any gain realized from the
"sale" of capital good^.'^'
Social ownership is the most important
characteristic of the Yugoslav economy, and
has affected all the rights changes that occurred
during the 1960s. It means that no one can sell
shares of common stock. Hence, workers will
gain from their "investments" in the firm on&
if they remain employed.lml Furthermore,
forcing firms to maintain the book value of
their assets will impede the efficient allocation
of ~apital.l~~1
Consequently, social ownership
affects both capital and labor mobility. Moreover, it restricts the free entry and exit of firms.
Entry will depend mainly on the decisions of
government officials, not on private investment
decisions. Meanwhile, the exit of inefficient
firms will be hampered by officials seeking to
maintain employment.lml
Yugoslav economic reforms, 1957-1968
In 1957 the "net income system" of distribution was introduced.17'1 This replaced the
so-called "profit system" that had been in
existence since 1954.1n1 Under the net income
system, workers are residual claimants, whose
personal incomes depend on: (I) the size of
enterprise net income, (2) the distribution of net
income between personal incomes and funds,
(3) the criteria used to determine the distribution of personal incomes, and (4) the number
of workers. Hence, appropriability is affected
by the council's effective rights to (a) distribute
net income, (b) determine personal incomes and
were introduced by the 1%5 reform. In
particular, the 15% tax on enterprise income
was abolished,18j1 and both the turnover and
capital tax were virtually eliminated.18j' Consequently, enterprises' share in net product
increased from about 50% in 1964 to 56.5% in
1968.1"' Moreover, subsidies and other forms
of assistance to enterprises were substantially
lowered, making workers somewhat more
dependent on the success of their firms."'
Another relevant aspect of the 1965 tax
reform was the switch from favorable to
unfavorable tax treatment of allocations to
Changes in the tar structure
In 1960, the State siphoned off, through personal incomes relative to the business fund.
taxes, 56.8% of enterprises' net product (i.e. During the 1961-1964 period, the personal
total revenue minus material costs and depre- income tax rate (paid by enterprises on the net
ciati0n)."~1 The following taxes were of par- income allocated to personal incomes) was
ticular importance: (a) The capital tax, a flat 15%. Funds reinvested in the firm, on the other
6% tax levied on the book value of an hand, were taxed at a rate of 20%. After the
enterprise's fixed and working capital; (b) the 1965 reform, however, the personal income tax
turnover tax, an ad valorem tax ranging from 0 rate dropped to 10.5%, while the tax on
to 25% levied at the finished product stage;I7'j reinvested funds fell to z e r o F
In sum, the 1961 and 1965 tax reforms
and (c) a steeply progressive tax on enterprise
income, the rate of which depended on the ratio significantly increased the size of enterprises'
of income to the size of the minimum personal net income. Moreover, the decrease in the
incomes fund.'77'Other taxes of interest were capital tax meant that part of this increase in
those levied on the portion of net income net income could be attributed to returns on
allocated to gross personal incomes - the capital. The importance of the enlarged net
social security tax, the housing construction income, however, will depend on approtax, and the personal income taxlml- and the priability. Hence, we now turn to consider the
20% tax on allocations to the collective effect of the reforms on workers' effective
claims to net income.
consumption fund.['''
The 1961 reform replaced the progressive tax
on enterprise income with a proportionate tax Changes in workers' effective claims to net
rate of 15%'"' This increased enterprises' share income
The 1957 reform gave the council the rights
in net product from 43.2% in 1960 to 51% in
1964.81'Moreover, it increased workers' take- to independently distribute net income, deterhome pay and thereby helped to correct some mine personal incomes on the basis of the
of the earlier disincentives to work. Various results of individual work plus ihe success of
other taxes, however, still limited the size of the enterprise, and appoint and dismiss worktheir capturable rewards. The taxes levied on ers.lml Because of various external constraints,
allocations to gross personal incomes, for however, the council's effective rights to
example, left only 56% of that fund available distribute net income and determine personal
for final distribution.'"' In addition, there was incomes remained narrowly limited until 1961,
a tax of 25% on that part of personal incomes when they were given real content, and 1965,
exceeding the minimum guaranteed amount by when they became highly effective. Conmore than 160V0.1~1Finally, a tax of 20& was sequently, the ability of workers to capture net
levied on allocations to the business and income in the form of take-home personal
collective consumption funds.Iml
incomes differed in each of the three periods:
Further changes in the distribution structure (1) 1957-1960, in which workers had narrowly
(c) control the volume of employment.lnl The
size of capturable net income, however, and
hence the importance of any rights to net
income will depend on the tax structure.
The 1961 and 1965 reforms caused important
changes in the tax structure and in enterprise
empowerments. In the following discussion, we
will first summarize the relevant tax changes,
then consider the impact of the 1961 and 1965
reforms on workers' effective claims to net
income.'"l
limited claims to net income; (2) 1961-1964, in
which workers acquired additional, but still
rather limited claims to current net income; and
(3) 1965-1968, in which workers acquired
more effective and thus more valuable rights to
net income. Each of these rights structures will
be used to categorize a particular type of
enterprise ownership form, namely: (la)
"narrowly-limited net income" enterprises,
(2a) "limited net income" enterprises, and (3a)
"net income-seeking" enterprises.
1957-1961. During the 1957-1960 period, the
distribution of enterprise net income was
influenced by the "producers' council" of the
local commune, which had the right to examine
an enterprise's financial statements.lgll If the
local producers' council discovered that an
enterprise's distribution violated existing regulations, it could "recommend" the necessary
changes. In the event the workers' council did
not comply with the recommendations, the
communal people's committee had two alternatives: it could refuse to make loans and/or it
could refuse to act as guarantor for bank loan
applications. If the council still refused to abide
by the recommendations, the matter was
handed over to the district council of producers
for resolution.'*l In practice, the recommendations were usually followed even though they
had no legal f0rce.1~1
The adoption of the pay scale was also
subject to a recommendation procedure in
which the trade unions played an important
part. The 1957 "Law on Labour Relations"
stated that before an enterprise's pay scale
could become operative, it had to be approved
by the communal people's committee, or a
commission appointed by it, and by the
appropriate trade union.lS' If the pay scale was
not approved, the council was supposed to
make the recommended changes. In the event
such changes were not made, the matter was to
be settled by the district council of arbitration.
Its decision had to be incorporated into the
enterprise's "Regulations on the Determination
of Personal Incomes".1951The pay scale recommendations were not legally binding, but
the available evidence indicates they were
The 1957 "Law on Labour Relations" stipulated that workers' councils could be assisted in
the preparation of pay scales and in the
determination of personal income differentials
by entering into "pay scale agreements". These
agreements, worked out by trade union officials, representatives of economic chambers,
and/or industrial trade unions, specified "the
general criteria, grounds and methods" for
determining workers' persdnal incomes.'"'
Pay scale agreements had to be approved by the
Secretariat of Labour and Labour Relations of
the Federal Executive Coun~il.'~'iTheir basic
goal was to achieve "a unified pay scale policy
in enterprises".lmi In order to accomplish this
objective the 1959 agreements provided for: (1)
the distribution of net income between personal
income and funds; (2) the ratio between the
highest and lowest pay scale rate; (3) personal
income differentials for different skill categories; and (4) the general criteria for determining
bonuses and production standards.'"' Although these agreements were not legally
binding, they were quite effective according to
Stajner, in coordinating "wage rates for similar
jobs within the same industry".ilml
Four other constraints should be mentioned.
The first two pertain to the 1957-1960 period,
or parts thereof, while the latter two are
inherent features of the Yugoslav socioeconomic system. (1) The 1959 and 1960
Federal Social Plans stipulated that for every
amount earmarked for fixed capital at least
20% had to be set aside for working capital.Oo1t
This requirement limited the council's freedom
to distribute net income. (2) A regulation in
effect from January 1958 to June 1959 restricted the net income that could be distributed as
personal incomes: monthly and quarterly distributions were limited to the minimum personal
incomes guaranteed by the State plus 50%.
Only the Federal Executive Council could
modify this limitation.['o" (3) The supervisory
powers of the Financial Inspectorate, the Social
Accounting Service (Sluzba Drustvenog Knjigovodstva), and the National Bank introduced
further constraints. The Financial Inspectorate
and the Social Accounting Service monitor enterprises' accounts to ensure their legality and
supply government officials, trade unions, etc.
, .&&&,-
.-. ~ . .
MARKETS, TRUE AND FALSE:: THE CASE OF YUGOSLAVIA
with the information needed to evaluate performance. In particular, the Social Accounting
Service provides a system of uniform accounts
that facilitate intra and inter-industry comparisons. The National Bank and its branches help
supervise the use of enterprises' capital assets
via their right to audit accounts of firms to
whom credit has been e ~ t e n d e d . 1 Enterprises
are also required to finance about 25% of any
investment loan.ll"l In effect, this motivates
them to reinvest part of their net income. (4)
Finally, the League of Communists is represented in the majority of enterprises. These units
have no legal right to interfere with the selfmanagement process, but their political influence can be significant.""'
In conclusion, it appears that the above
methods of "social control", particularly the
communal recommendations and the pay scale
agreements, narrowly limited the council's right
to distribute net income and determine personal
incomes before 1961."ffi' This conclusion is
supported by the observations of several
well-known Yugoslav economists. Dusan
Bilandiit, for example, stated that the institutional changes introduced by the 1957
reform had little effect due to the "administrative determination of the distribution and
disposal of net
Likewise, Bajt
points out that before 1961 "the system of wage
. continued to be firmly
~entralized"."~' Finally, Ljubomir Mad&
observed that "income distribution [i.e. the
formation of personal incomes] was rather
strictly regulated" prior to 1961.11w1It appears,
therefore, that in fact enterprises could not
independently determine their distribution
policies during the 1957-1960 period.
"Limited net income" enterprises, 19611964. In 1961, the constraints on personal
income formation were removed. Hence, for
the first time, enterprises became autonomous
in their decisions affecting the distribution of
net income and the determination of personal
i n ~ o m e s . ~Such
" ~ ~independence, however, was
short-lived; controls limiting the free disposal
of net income were reintroduced at the end of
1961. These controls became more pervasive
during 1962 and 1963, and remained in effect
The legislative package adopted by the Federal People's Assembly in March 1961 is
commonly referred to as the 1%1 economic
reform. The "Law on Changes and Supplements to the Law on Assets of Economic
Organizations"l1"1 and the "Law on Changes
and Supplements to the Law on Labour
Relations"fltZ1were particularly important. The
relevant articles of the refined texts of these
laws, which wereadopted on 15 April 1961, are
discussed below."13'
The "Law on Assets of Economic Organizations of 1961" gave enterprises the right to
independently distribute net income. Workers'
councils were responsible for laying down the
"basis and criteria" for distributing net income
between personal incomes and funds in their
"Pravilnik o Raspodeli Cistog Prihoda"
("Rules on the Distribution of Net In~ o m e " ) . ~ "According
to article 14, para. 1,
these Rules also had to specify the principles for
distributing personal incomes among worker~.Il'~'
Article 16 obliged the council to behave
"with the care of a good businessman" in
determining distribution criteria. This meant
that it should provide for the growth of
enterprise investment funds and base personal
incomes on produ~tivity.l~~~1
Article 17, para. 1,
stated that enterprises could enter into agreements concerning "the principles to be observed. . in determining the bases and criteria
for the distribution of net income". Article 19
stipulated that the council must "allow workers
to review the proposed rules" and must
recognize their "observations and proposals".
Article 20 gave the communal authorities the
right to examine the council's draft of the Rules
on the Distribution of Net Income. Finally,
Article 21 provided that if the communal
producers' council considered the bases and
criteria set forth in the Rules to be in violation
of existing legal prescripts, it could recommend
the appropriate changes. However, even
though the workers' council had to consider
these recommendations, they were not legally
binding. The same is true with regard to the
council's adoption of the Rules on the Distribution of Personal In~ome.1~~~1
to note that trade unions lost their authority in
the area of personal income formation in 1961.
JAMES Pi. W R N
Furthermore, pay scale agreements could be- in the current year's ratio of capital to
come effective without the approval of the labor relative to the previous year. Hence,
communal a~thorities.'"~1
insofar as this guideline to use labor intenYugoslav economists and others familiar sive methods of prod~ction.l'~~1
with the 1961 reform ag,ce, in general, that it formula, however, was somewhat inconsistent:
effectively abolished the major social controls on the one hand it rewarded increased producapplied during the 1957-1960 period - making tivity, which depends on increases in the ratio
the workers' councils virtually free to distribute of capital to labor, and on the other hand it
net income and determine personal i n c ~ m e s . " ~ ~provided
an incentive to reduce capital inOn December 29, 1961, however, the Federal tensity!
People's Assembly adopted the "RecommendThe 1962 Instruction required enterprises to
ation on the Distribution of Net Income in submit their "Rules on the Distribution of Net
Work collective^".^'^^^ Its purpose was to Income" to the appropriate Communal Comremind enterprises that any increases in per- mission. If illegalities were found, the commissonal incomes should be tied to "the results of sion could recommend changes. In the event
work and management". Nevertheless, the that the workers' council did not accept the
newly acquired freedom to determine personal recommendation, the communal officials could
incomes led enterprises to increase personal suspend the enterprise Rules. The council had
incomes far in excess of productivity g a i n ~ . l ' ~ ' ~the right to appeal to the Republic Commission
Consequently, the Federal Assembly passed a whose decision was final.l'271
On 7 May 1963, the Instruction of 1962 was
law on 9 April 1962 that provided for the
formation of commissions to implement regu- superseded by the "Instruction on the Implementation
of the Principles of the Distribution
lations on the distribution of net i n ~ o m e . 1 ' ~ ~
And, on 13 April 1962, the Federal Executive of Net Income of Economic OrganizaThis new Instruction abolished the
Council adopted the "Instruction on the tion~".I'~~1
Implementation of the Principles and General distribution formula of 1962. Article 9 providStandards for the Distribution of Net Income in ed for the establishment of various success
the Rules of Economic Organizations".l'"l
criteria by the Federal Secretariat for Work in
Article 1, para. 1 of this Instruction required conjunction with the Central Council of the
enterprises to incorporate various "principles Confederation of Yugoslav Trade Unions and
and general standards" into their "Rules" the Federal Economic Chamber. These criteria,
governing the distribution of net income and referred to as the "uniform indicators of
personal incomes. Enterprises were to distri- business success" ("jedinstveni pokazafelji
bute net income (to personal incomes and poslovnog uspeha"), were supposed to help
collective consumption) in accordance with enterprises analyze their operations and guide
their business success and provide for their them in the distribution of net income and
growth by reinvesting part of their net in- personal inc0me.1'"~ On 3 July 1963, the
come.""l Article 3 stipulated that in their net "Agreement on the Uniform Indicators of
income distribution, enterprises must consider Business Success of Economic Organizations"
not only the amount of net income realized, but was adopted. It established three types of
also "the conditions under which it was uniform indicators: the "uniform indicators of
realized". Article 5 ruled out price increases as business success"; "net indicators of the
a justification for increasing personal incomes. conditions of business" (e.g. capital per workFinally, Article 8 of the 1962 Instruction er); and the "uniform indicators of distrirequired enterprises to use a distribution bution" (e.g. gross personal incomes per
formula in determining the per cent of net
According to Bajt, the 1962 and 1963
income earmarked for personal income^.^'^^^
This formula specified that in order to increase "Instructions" were not very effe~tive.1'~''
the ratio of personal incomes to net income in Madzar agrees; he thinks that the controls
the current vear, there must be a decrease introduced after 1960 were not highly restric-
tive. In particular, he argues that "the period
after 1960 can be treated, by and large, as the
period of the free formation of personal
i n ~ o m e " .Within
~ ~ ~ ~this period, however, he
distinguishes between the years before the 1965
reform and those thereafter. Hence, his division is consistent with the one independently
adopted in this paper.1la'
In conclusion, although the controls introduced in 1962 and 1963 did not effectively
constrain the council's right to distribute
personal incomes, they did tend to limit the free
disposal of net income until 1965. Therefore,
the 1960-1964 period can be viewed as one in
which workers' rights to net income were
substantially enlarged relative to the 1957-1960
period, but still somewhat limited relative to the
1965-1968 period.
and post-1965 rights to income, we assume that
workers' rights to income expanded and became more effective as a result of the 1965
111. SOME IMPLICATIONS OF THE
REFORMS'l"'
We have seen that the 1961 and 1%5
reforms: (a) increased the size of enterprise net
income; (b) virtually eliminated the tax on the
firm's capital value; and (c) gave workers more
effective claims to their firm's net income,
including the return to capital. These changes in
effective appropriability will differentially
affect the workers' council's employment and
investment behavior in capital-rich and capital~ ~ l deriving
"Net income-seeking" enterprises, 1965- poor firms and i n d u ~ t r i e s . ~Before
1968. The 1965 reform abolished the commismind
sions that had been set up to regulate the
distribution of net income in enterprises and the
1963 1nstr~ction.l'"~The removal of these changes resulting from their investments in the
restrictions made the worker's councils virtual- firm. As previously mentioned, this lack of
ly free to distribute net income in accordance private property rights in nonhuman capital
with their "Rules on the Distribution of means that workers can only capture current
Income" (Pravilnik o Raspodeli Dohotka). net income; i.e. they must stay with their firm if
Some forms of social control still remained, but they are to realize the expected increase in
were not legally binding; they merely sought to future income stemming from their investments
keep increases in personal incomes in line with in the firm. This point deserves further
increased productivity through voluntary mea- elaborati~n."~l
In Yugoslavia the worker can be thought of
sures.l1"I Thus, they did not interfere with the
having two investment alternatives: (1) He
rights granted by the 1965 reform. As Hanzecan
invest in his firm's capital stock by
kovii. pointed out in 1968:
allocating net income to the business fund; or
(2) he can allocate net income to personal
From 1965 onward there have been no more regulations
income and then invest in a savings certificate
which define how economic organizations must
distribute their income."38]
paying a fixed rate of interest (0.fl4l1 These
investment alternatives differ, of course, since
Virtually all Yugoslav economists and others the first is socially owned, while the second is
familiar with the reform measures agree that privately owned. The implication of this is that
enterprises acquired greater independence in the rate of return (r) on the socially owned
distributing their net income between personal investment must exceed that on the privately
incomes and funds relative to the earlier owned investment to make workers indifferent
peri0ds.1'~~~
A careful investigation of the between the two alternatives. Moreover, the
literature indicates that the council's newly extent of this difference will depend on the
acquired legal right to independently distribute average length of employment desired by
net income was effective after 1965. Hence, members of the firm (t). In particular, as t
even though we cannot see a black-and-white increases, the rate of return (r*) required on
distinction between pre-1965 (i.e. 1961-1964) socially owned assets to make the council
indifferent between the two investment alternatives declines and approaches i. For example,
given an i of 5%, r* will be 23, 13, 9 and 8%
respectively for "t values" of 5, 10, 15 and 20
year~."'~l
In sum, the important points to note are that:
(1) rates of return on alternative investments in
Yugoslavia are not directly comparable because
of the differences in property rights; and (2) the
desired tenure of workers with their firms will
affect the amount of net income which they
voluntarily reinvest in their firms' capital stock.
On the other hand, if workers had private
property rights in nonhuman capital, there
would be no such relationship between employment and investment behavior. Workers would
not have to be employed by an enterprise in
order to invest in it, since they would not have
to remain with that firm in order to capture
expected income streams. That is, if Yugoslav
workers had private ownership rights in capital
goods, they could immediately realize expected
future increments in net income by selling their
claims in a private capital market. Clearly, the
lack of capital markets in Yugoslavia hampers
capital and labor mobility. Wachtel, for example, notes that:
If the worker decides lo remain with the enterprise
because his personal income has been deferred to some
future period, when he would otherwise have changed
employment, then severe immobilities will have been
introduced into the labor market."*l
We shall now look into this phenomenon more
Differences in average lengths of desired
employment in capital-rich and capital-poor
The effect of the 1961 and 1965 reforms
on the average length of employment desired by
members of capital-rich and capital-poor firms
is a complex problem. To approach it, we must
first recall that t, the average length of
employment desired, depends on capturable
future net income-per-worker; that is, on
expected personal income-per-worker. Second,
we must recognize that under the net income
system, personal income-per-worker depends
on net income-per-worker. Thus, firms with
above average net income-per-worker will tend
to have above-average personal income-perworker. Furthermore, workers in such firms
will tend to have longer average periods of
desired employment than in firms with belowaverage net income-per-worker. In the following discussion, we shall specify the major
determinants of interfirm net income-perworker, one of which is capital-per-worker. We
shall then analyze the impact of the reforms on
the relation between capital-per-worker and
net income-per-worker and personal incomeper-worker on the other. Of particular
importance will be the effect of the 1961
and 1965 reforms on the capturability of
implicit interest income from the socially
owned capital assets at firms' disposal. From
this analysis we will derive predicted differences
in t, i.e. average length of employment,
between capital-rich and capital-poor firms.
Three major reasons for interenterprise net
income-per-worker differentials can be specified.I1"l First, there may be differences in
monopoly power and/or privilege. Some firms
may have control over their prices, and/or be
subsidized by the government. Second, there
may be differences in implicit interest income
according to the size of the firm's capital stock,
and depending on the capital tax. If the capital
tax, which may be thought of as an "interest
rate" paid to the State on the value of the
firm's capital assets, is less than the opportunity cost of capital, part of the firm's net income
will consist of implicit returns to capital. Firms
that have been endowed with a large amount of
capital-per-worker
will have relatively high net
~ncome-per-worker,insofar as implicit interest
income can be captured.
Finally, there may be diffeknces in the
quality of entrepreneurship, especially if the
entrepreneurial functions are performed by a
collective - with all members participating in
management, innovation, and riskbearing.
These differences in the quality of entrepreneurship may cause differences in net incomepepworker.
We are primarily interested in the effect of
the reforms on differences in t between
capital-rich and capital-poor firms. In the
following discussion we shall assume that
differences in monopoly power and/or privilege, and differences in entrepreneurial quality,
are not important sources of interfirm net
income-per-worker differentials.
Let us consider the impact of the 1961 and
1965 reforms in the relation between capitalper-worker and net income-per-worker. Before
the 1961 reform, differences in capital-perworker should not have been responsible for
very large differences in net income-per-worker
or personal income-per-worker. There are
several reasons for this. First, the tax on capital
was relatively high at 6%. If we assume that
this tax effectively siphoned off most implicit
interest income, differences in capital-perworker should not have been an important
determinant of interfirm net income-perworker differentials. Second, the progressive
tax on enterprise income should have reduced
interfirm net income-per-worker differentials,
thus further reducing any interfirm differences
in net income-per-worker due to capital-perworker. Finally, personal income-per-worker
differentials were narrowly limited before 1961,
so that any differences in net income-perworker due to capital-per-worker should not
have shown up as large differences in takehome pay.
After the 1961 reform, however, we would
expect differences in capital-per-worker to
have a greater impact on differences in net
income-per-worker and personal income-perworker. Although the legal rate of tax on
capital remained at 6% until 1964, the effective
rate averaged only 2.5% in 1963. This implies
that aftcr 1%1 enterprises could capture
relativel! greater implicit interest income from
the capiial assets at their disposal. In addition,
the reriacement of the progressive tax on
enterprise income by a proportionate tax of
15% s!~ouldhave allowed more of the implicit
interest income to be reflected in net incomeper-labor. Finally, the removal of most effective controls on the distribution of net income
should have allowed the differences in net
inccme-per-worker (assumed here to be due to
differences in capital-per-worker) to be reflected more fully in differences in personal incomeper-worker.
The 1965 reform reduced the legal rate of tax
on capital from 6% to 3.5%. The effective rate,
however, was judged to be about 1.3% in
1966.1'451 Moreover, all taxes on enterprise
income were removed in 1965. Thus, the 1965
reform should have allowed differences in
capital-per-worker to show up to a greater
extent as differences in interfirm net incomeper-worker. Finally, the removal of all remaining controls on the distribution of net income in
1965 should have allowed differences in implicit
interest income to be even more completely
reflected in interfirm differences in personal
income-per-worker.
The preceding line-of-reasoning suggests that
firms with above average capital-per-worker
should have above average net income-perworker, and thus above average personal
income-per-worker. In turn, this implies that
workers in capital-rich firms should have longer
average lengths of desired employment than in
capital-poor firms. Furthermore, the foregoing
analysis suggests that personal income-perworker differentials between capital-rich and
capital-poor firms, and thus interfirm personal
income-per-worker differentials, should have
increased over the 1957-1968 period.I1"l This
further implies that differences in t between
capital-rich and capital-poor firms, and therefore interfirm differences in t, should have
increased over the 1957-1968 period as rights to
net income became more valuable.
Using cross-sectional multiple regression
analysis, we found that the evidence from both
industry-wide and individual firm data were
consistent with our hypothesis that capital-rich
firms have higher net income-per-worker than
capital-poor firms. However, the industry-wide
multiple regressions were more appropriate,
since in them we attempted to control for the
effects of monopoly power and quality of
entrepreneurship on net income-per-worker.""'
We also found evidence to support our
hypothesis that interenterprise personal income-per-worker differentials increased over
the 1957-1968 period. Using the coefficient of
variation to measure interenterprise personal
income-per-worker differentials in the textile
industry, we found that the coefficient of
variation increased from 0.206 in 1960, to 0.276
in 1963, to 0.432 in 1967. Similar results were
obtained using interindustry data.('@'
Finally, it might be noted that, in theory,
differences in capital-per-worker should not
result in differences in personal income-perworker under socialism. Yugoslav firms have
the right to use the capital goods at their
disposal, but they have no ownership title, and
must pay a tax on the value of their capital
stock. The purpose of this tax, you recall, is to
siphon off implicit interest income. Thus, if this
"interest rate" reflects the true cost of capital
services, differences in capital-per-worker
should not affect interenterprise personal income-per-worker differentials.
Using a variant of two-stage least squares
regression analysis, we found that for selected
years (each year selected to represent a particular rights structure) the evidence both from
the textile industry data and KoraE's interindustry data suggest that enterprises do capture part
of the income flowing from their capital assets.
Hence, it appears that interenterprise and
interindustry personal income-per-worker differentials can be attributed, at least in part, to
differences in implicit interest income, resulting
from differences in capital
We can now derive a specific implication
about the behavior of Yugoslav firms. Workers
in capital-rich firms will have longer average
periods of desired employment (t) than workers
in capital-poor firms, since such f i m s will have
above-average income-per-worker in each
successive period. Moreover, as the workers'
rights, including the "right of use", became
more valuable over the 1957-1968 period,
interenterprise differentials in t should have
increased due to the spread in interenterprise
personal income-per-worker differentials.1'"'
This means, given our assumptions, that
differences in t between capital-rich and capital-poor firms should also have increased. We
can now state this line of argument more
Impl;corion No. I . Workers in capital-rich firms will
have longer average lengths of desired employment (f)
than in capital-poor firms in each successive period.
And, this difference will increase as workers' rights,
including the "right of use", become more valuable.
To test this implication we would have liked
to proceed as discussed earlier and find for each
rights structure, the average length of employment desired by workers in the various circumstances. If we found little difference between
the average length of contractual employment
in the average capital-rich and average capitalpoor firm before 1960, a greater difference
after the 1961 reform, and an even greater
difference after the 1965 reform, we would
have evidence to support Implication No. 1.
However, such data is not available. Therefore,
we resorted to a less rigorous method of
checking this implication.
The quit rate (QR) was used as a proxy for 1.
Quit rate data, however, were not available
before 1964, so our ability to check Implication
No. 1 was further limited. Moreover, since quit
rate data were available only by industry, we
could not examine differences in interenterprise
behavior. Nevertheless, we were able to examine interindustry behavior, which is assumed to
follow a pattern similar to that predicted for
interfirm behavior. Our procedure was to
initially examine interindustry differences in t,
as measured by the QR, and then analyze these
differences for 1964 and 1966, using a regression model of interindustry quit ratesY5'1
Our statistical results confirmed that the quit
rate is negatively related to capturable rewards,
as measured by adjusted personal income-perworker.1lY1Although the regression coefficient
was not statistically significant, we believe that
if the average length of desired employment ( t )
could be measured more precisely, one would
find a statistically significant positive relationship between t and personal income-perworker. Thus, we interpret the positive relationship found between personal income-perworker and capital-per-worker to mean that
workers in capital-rich firms have longer
average lengths of desired employment than
workers in capital-poor firms, ceteris paribus,
in each successive period.
Moreover, we observed that interindustry
quit rate differentials, as measured by the
coefficient of variation, increased from 38.3%
in 1964 to 49.1% in 1966, and to 52.2% in
1967.1'51 We interpret this to mean that
differences in average lengths of desired em-
..-~~>~
ployment behavior between capital-rich and
capital-poor industries widened as workers'
property rights became more valuable. A
crucial link in this reasoning is that capital-rich
industries have above average income-perworker.
Differences in average investment behavior in
capital-rich and capital-poor firms.
Given the link between employment and investment behavior in the Yugoslav firm, a corollary to Implication No. 1. can be derived.
ing personal income-per-worker differentials.
Wachtel reached a similar conclusion, via a different routes:
worker differentials. Wachtel reached a similar
conclusion, via a different route:
The tendency for high-wage [personal income-perworker] industries to have relatively larger investments
than low-wage [personal income-per-worker] industries could increase interindustry wage differentials
over time in Yugoslavia.~'"l
Our study, however, stresses that the underlying rights structure in Yugoslavia, as shaped
by the 1961 and 1965 reforms, has been a basic
factor leading to the increase in interfirm and
Implicalion No. 2. Workers' councils in capital-rich
interindustry personal income-per-worker diffirms will volunlarily distribute a larger fraction o f
their net income to the Business Fund relative to
ferentials over the 1957-1968 period. The final
capital-poor firms, in each successive period.
implication of our study is simply that point
That is, the longer average period of employ- with respect to capital-rich firms, capital-poor
ment desired by workers in capital-rich relative firms, and all enterprises.
Implic~lionNo.3 . Personal income-per-worker differto capital-poor firms would lead us t o expect
entials between capital-rich and capital-poor firms will
workers' councils in those firms to reinvest
increase as rights to income become more valuable and
relatively more of their net income, ceteris
as a consequence of different reinvestment ratios.
These differences will be reflected in increasing
interfirm personal income-per-worker differentials
Our evidence confirmed that capital-rich
over the 1957-1968 period.
firms have tended to reinvest more than
capital-poor firms. However, it is difficult to Implication No. 3 also applies to interindustry
say anything about how differences in invest- personal income-per-worker differentials.
We have already indicated that income-perment behavior between these two sets of firms
differentials increased over the 1957will change as rights to income become more
In addition, this variance was
valuable.^'"'
analyzed and found to be largely consistent
Property rights changes and interfirm personal
with Implication No. 3 . ' l n l Finally, our findincome-per-worker differentials
ings tend to support (and our theory helps
Earlier we showed that even in theabsence of
explain) the popular contention in Yugoslavia
differences in reinvestment between capital-rich that:
and capital-poor firms, personal income-per. . . amajor current problem of the system is, . .. , the
worker differentials between such firms should
have increased as rights to income became more
valuable over the 1957- 1968 period. Our empirical evidence supported this hypothesis. We
found that both interfirm and interindustry
personal income-per-worker differentials increased over the 1957-1968 period.['5s'
However, we now have a further reason to
believe that personal income-per-worker differentials should have increased between
capital-rich and capital-poor firms. Namely,
the differences found in net investment between
these two sets of firms should have deepened
productivity differences, increasing the spread
in net income-per-worker, and thereby increas-
discrepancy between rich and poor enterprises, the
rich ones allegedly having too small a work force,
paying a too high a wage, and preserving their relative
wealth by relatively heavy investment.""'
At this point, let us consider the implications
of our results for resource misallocation. In
addition, let us examine several proposals by
Yugoslav economists to dampen the increase in
personal income-per-worker differentials.
Misallocation and capital markets
If workers are tied to their firms by the
investments they make in non-owned assets, it
seems that the sine qua non of an efficient
allocation of resources in Yugoslavia is the
creation of a capital market. Under existing
conditions, even though rates of return may
be higher in capital-poor firms relative to
capital-rich firms, there may not be any flow of
capital from one group to another.ll"l Capital
resources will therefore be misallocated, since
there are higher valued investment alternatives
that are not being utilized. The socially
desirable flow of resources, of course, will be
from lower valued uses, e.g. in capital-rich
firms to the higher valued uses, say in
capital-poor firms. However, this does not
occur because of the absence of a free capital
On the other hand, capital-rich firms will
tend to have higher net income-per-worker, and
therefore higher personal income-per-worker
than capital-poor firms, regardless of the
alternative social cost of different categories of
labor. As Madzar says, the payment of labor
according to enterprise net income does not
. . . that a given category of the labor force will be
equally rewarded in alternative jobs. This implies
apparently a certain inefficiency in the allocation of
~~sou~c~s.I'~~
If the value of labor's marginal products is in
fact higher in the capital-rich firms, the value of
society's output could be increased by the
movement of workers from capital-poor to
capital-rich firms. Workers, however, are prevented from moving to their highest valued uses
by the institutions of social ownership and
workers' management."6"
Social ownership has a tendency to tie
workers to their firms, since they must remain
with their firms to capture any increments in
future net income resulting from their investments in non-owned assets. Moreover, making
workers "residual claimants" rather than wage
earners causes workers' councils to be somewhat reluctant to hire new workers. They are
reluctant because new members of the collective
would share in the fruits of past investments,
even though they incurred no sacrifice.
The introduction of a capital market would
divorce the investment and employment decisions, make rates of return on alternative
investments directly comparable, and provide
for capital and labor mobility. Moreover, the
existence of a competitively determined market
rate of interest, reflecting the scarcity value of
capital, would mean that rational investment
decisions could be made. Thus, capital would
tend to flow to its highest valued uses. Finally,
once a share market was introduced, specialization in management and control (ownership)
could occur. Workers would lose their status as
residual claimants and a competitive labor
market would emerge. In such a market, of
course, workers would tend to be paid a wage
rate reflecting what they could earnin their next
best alternative. Thus, the value of labor's
marginal product in alternative uses would tend
toward equality, implying an efficient allocation
These institutional changes would almost
certainly remove the sources of behavior that
we believe have led to increases in interfirm and
interindustry personal income-per-worker differentials. They would also enhance individual
freedom. Nevertheless, it would be sheer folly
to think that such changes, which require
private property rights in the means of production, would be instituted in a socialist country.
What is fascinating is that the Yugoslavs have
gone so far towards a market orientated
economy, while retaining social ownership of
nonhuman capital resources. This, however, is
precisely their impasse.
Yugoslav policy proposals
Given the ideological constraints on private
ownership, the following alternatives appear
open to Yugoslav officials as ways to mitigate
the increase in interfirm pay differentials. (1)
Provide for interfirm capital mobility and give
workers more complete claims to the income
expected from their investments in the firm. (2)
Promote integration of smaller firms within an
industry. (3) Reintroduce controls on the
formation of personal incomes, and increase
taxes on enterprise income and capital. Let us
consider the actions that have been taken along
Improving the investment atmosphere. Before
1963, enterprises having excess funds could not
invest in other firms. Hence, these excess funds
would be distributed as personal incomes, or
MARKETS, TRUE AND FALSE. THE CASE OF YUGOSLAVIA
reinvested in the firm, even if there were more effective property rights in capital, by which
attractive investments in other firms. The 1963 Bajt means "the undifferentiated income inConstitutional Amendment XXII, however, vested in all previous periods in order to
allowed interfirm investment, subject to the increase the productive capacities of the econconstraint that interest earned on funds invest- omy". To assure that capital income flows into
ed in other firms should not be paid out as the state budget and is not appropriated by
personal incomes. Nevertheless, if firms can enterprises, Bajt would have the state place an
share in the distribution of net income created "adequate" interest charge on capital. Hence,
by loans to other firms, this implies that they in his scheme, workers would be rewarded only
will be able to pay out higher personal incomes. for their labor input plus entrepreneurship, but
According to Madzar, such a solution would not for changes in capital value which belong to
not be ideologically acceptable, since it would the state. According to Bajt, this distribution
would be consistent with the socialist
allow enterprises to capture interest i n ~ o m e . 1 ' ~ scheme
With respect to giving workers a less principle "to everybody according to his
uncertain claim to their investment income, ~ o r k " . I ' ~ '
There are many difficulties with Bajt's
Yugoslav policy has been rather silent. However, some Yugoslavs are beginning to realize proposal. The main problem, however, is his
the need for promoting investment incentives assumption that giving enterprises legal (but
by establishing more effective claims to net not effective) property rights in their assets will
income arising from investments in the firm's lead to a more efficient allocation of nonhuman
capital. We have already seen that without
D. Dubravcii-, for example, recognizes that effective appropriability entrepreneurs will not
the lack of private property rights in capital be strongly motivated to efficiently utilize their
goods means that workers must stay with their unique knowledge. This means the competitive
firm in order to capture expected increments to search process will be thwarted, true capital
future net income resulting from their invest- markets will not emerge, and interest rates will
ment in the firm.l'wl He therefore proposes the not reflect the scarcity value of capital. Under
following method of giving workers less uncer- Bajt's quasi-ownership scheme, therefore, it is
doubtful if nonhuman capital resources could
tain claims to investment income:
or would be placed in their highest valued uses.
Procedures could be set up to "transfer" certain
claims of older workers to pension funds, and even a
system of bond issues to members of the co-operative
could be envisioned."'l
According to Dubravcit, such a scheme would
undermine socialist ideology of payment according to lab0r.l'~1Hence, the plausibility of
such a scheme being adopted is slight.
Aleksander Bajt also recognizes the need for
some sort of capital market. His proposal is
that since Yugoslav workers act as if they own
the means of production they should be given
legal property rights to their firms' assets. He
believes such a transfer of legal title from the
state to worker-managed enterprises would
allow a freer flow of nonhuman resources,
improve entrepreneurial decision making, and
enhance economic efficiency. Bajt, however,
would not allow workers to have any effective
claims to present values. The state would retain
Integration. The integration of capital-poor
firms could reduce interfirm differences in
capital-per-worker, if jobs were eliminated in
the process. Integration would then tend to
reduce interfirm differentials in net income-perworker, and thereby reduce interfirm differentials in personal income-per-worker. Yugoslav economists appear to accept the merger
route as a justifiable means of reducing
income-per-worker
among firms.l'"l In fact, M. DautoviC points
out that one of the goals of the 1965 reform was
to foster integration, and "to favor enterprises
which combine into various forms of association".'lW' In his study of economic integration,
Dautovit found that between 1958 and 1966,
the number of medium-sized enterprises employing 125 workers or less decreased substantially, while the number of larger-sized firms
increased.I1"l He also found that most enter- in banking and foreign trade in order to prevent
prises that integrated in 1965 and 1966 were in workers in these areas from earning excessive
the same branch or group.llml DautoviC's personal incomes due to privileged conditions.
findings suggest that smaller firms were inte- (3) Finally in 1968, the "Law Governing the
grating with each other (hence the reduction in Determination and Distribution of income to
the number of medium-size firms) to strengthen Enterprises" was enacted. This law provided
their position in the market vis-d-vis the richer for "social consultation and agreements"
among business associations, trade unions, and
We might mention that on January 26, 1967, political organs in order to jointly settle
the Federal Assembly's Economic Chamber questions relating to the formation of personal
adopted the "Recommendation on the Further incomes.ll*' The law aims at making personal
Development of Economic Integration and income differentials depend more closely on
Business Cooperation". This measure recom- "the results of work", and
mended that Yugoslavia:
. .. provides for the possibility of imposing progressive
Build into the existing system adequate solutions
which would permit a freer movement of accumulated
capital, a freer capital market and the elimination of
statist methods o f concentration of investment
capital.l171i
It appears that some Yugoslav officials are
beginning to recognize the need for greater
capital mobility but are prevented from introducing private ownership, which is the prerequisite for a true capital market, by their
ideological commitments.
Reintroducing controls on personal income
formation, and increasing t m on enterprise
income and capital. In the final analysis, of
course, Yugoslav officials can always resort to
personal income controls, and/or higher taxes
on enterprises' income and on the value of their
capital assets. This measure would certainly
dampen the increase in interfirm personal
income-per-worker differentials. However, the
price would be a revision towards a centrally
controlled economy. Nevertheless, given the
constraints on the introduction of a private
capital market, the Yugoslavs may have little
choice in the matter. In fact, since the end of
1967, various controls have been reintroduced
along with a tax on the income of specific
E. BerkoviC points out that: (1) At the end of
1967 controls were imposed on increases in
personal incomes of those persons earning
relatively high incomes in the following areas:
"banks, power production and distribution,
foreign trade, commercial agencies, social
security offices and business associations". (2)
A tax was placed on the income of enterprises
taxation on that amount of revenue allocated to
personal incomes which exceeds the level of personal
incomes fixed by agreement or law.U73l
None of these measures has been very
successful in dealing with the problem of
widening income-per-worker differentials. ' In
fact, if the hypotheses of this study arecorrect,
Yugoslav officials are headed in the wrong
direction as evidenced by their abolishment of
the capital tax in 1971. Such a move will
probably exacerbate rather than mitigate their
The theme of our paper has been that
markets without private property rights are an
illusion. In Yugoslavia, the absence of private
property rights in nonhuman capital not only
prevents true capital markets from emerging, it
also hampers the efficient operation of labor
markets. This occurs because without saleable
rights to present values, workers must remain
employed with their firm if they want to
capture the expected increments in future net
The 1961 and 1965 economic reforms sought
to decentralize investment decision making and
enlarge workers effective claims to net income.
It was hoped that this would generate a more
efficient market economy and, in particular,
provide for a more efficient allocation of
investment funds. The difficulty, however, is
that although Yugoslav leaders want the results
of freedom, their socialist doctrines prevent
them from introducing the prerequisite of
MARKETS, TRUE AND FALSE: THE CASE O F YUGOSLAVIA
freedom, namely, private property rights.
Moreover, as a socialist state, they find it
difficult to abandon deliberate planning of
The Yugoslav reforms are bound to fail in
their attempts at decentralization; because
spontaneous market order can only be generated via a competitive process, which requires
private property rights, i.e. effective appropriability. Moreover, without private property
rights in nonhuman capital, both the freedom
of investors and entrepreneurs, as well as the
freedom of workers will be attenuated.
In fact, our empirical results, while they must
be interpreted carefully, tend to support these
conclusions. We found that the reforms increased the spread in personal income-perworker between capital-rich and capital-poor
firms. Finally, we attributed this to an institutional arrangement which encourages workers
in capital-rich firms to have relatively longer
desired lengths of employment and reinvest
relatively more than workers in capital-poor
I. We judge resource misallocation solely in terms of
whether resources flow to those uses valued most
highly by individual consumers. Our criterion therefore rests on individual freedom. Accordingly, any
impairment of individual freedom to buy and sell
factors prevents the spontaneous market order from
emerging and reduces the value of output to consumers.
2 "Capital-rt.h" T~rm, ondurtr~es)are tho= hating
hlgher than average eapltal-per-worker ratios reldtne
to the industry (industry-wide) average, and conversely for "capital-poor" firms (industries).
3. For an excellent discussion of the institutional
features of private enterprise, see Henry N. Sanborn,
Whot, How, For Whom: the Decisions o/ Economic
Orgoniwtion (Baltimore: Cotter-Barnard Co., 1972),
chap. 10. On "property rights", see pp. 247-248.
4. Roland N. McKean discusses these ideas at length in
his "Property Rights Within Government, And
Devices to Increase Governmental Efficiency", The
Southern Economic Journal Vol. 39, no. 2 (October,
1972). pp. 177- 186.
5. Armen Alchian has discussed these aspects of private
enterprise in detail. See, e.g., Some Economics o/
Property, RAND Corporation, p-2316 (Santa Monica: The Rand Corporation, 1961). especially chap. 3;
"Prices. Markets, Incentives", paper presented at
CESES IV Seminario Internazionale, Rapallo, Italy,
September 1%7; and Pricing and Society, Occasional
Paoer No. 17 1Westminster: The Institute of Econom,c Affairs, September, 1967). especially pp. 11-16.
6. See Alchian. Pricing and Sociely, pp. 12-13.
7. The "rule of law" states that laws should be in the
nature of universal rules of just conduct equally
applicable to all. For an excellent discussion of the
importance of the rule of law in a free society, see
Friedrich A. Hayek, The Constitulion of Liberty
(Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 19M)), chaps. 10 and
8. Ludwig von Mises, "Economic Calculation In Socialism", in Comparative Economic Systems: Modeis
and Cases, 3rd ed,, ed. Morris Bornstein (Homewood, 111.: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1974). pp.
120-126. Reprinted from Socialism: An Economic
and Sociological Analysis, translated from the German by Jacques Kahane (London: Jonathan Cape
Limited, 1936, 2nd ed.: New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1951). pp. 119-122, 137-142. This
volume is an expanded translation of Die Gemeinwirtschqft, originally published in 1922.
Mises's original article, "Die Wirtschaftsrechnung
in sozialistischen Gemeinwesen", which touched off
the so-called "socialist calculation debate", appeared
in Archiv f!ir Soriolwi~~enschoften
VOI. XLVII, No. I (April 1920). A translation of
this, together with several other important articles
from the debate, appears in Colleclivisl Economic
Planning, ed. F. A. Hayek (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1935).
9. The following line-of-argument is based on Mises's
"Economic Calculation In Socialism", in Bornstein.
10. Mises. "Economic Calculation". in Bornstein. 0.125.
I I . See Friedrich A. Hayek, "Socialist Calculation: The
Competitive 'Solution"', in Bornstein, pp. 140-159.
Reprinted from Economiq New Series, Vol. 7, no.
26(May. 1940). pp. 125-149. Also see Hayek's "The
Use of Knowledge in Society", in Individualism and
Economic Order (I&EO) (Chicago: Henry Regnery
Co., 1972), chap. 4.
12. Hayek, "Socialist Calculation 11: The State of the
Debate (1935)". in CollectivisrEconomicPlonning, p.
13. See Hayek, "The Use of Knowledge", in I&EO, pp.
83-86. Also see, Sanbarn, What, How, For Whom,
pp. 227-235 and p. 257 for an excellent discussion
of entrepreneurial knowledge of alternatives.
14. Hayek, "The Use of Knowledge in Society", in
I&EO, p. 86. According to Hayek, the price and
profit system is a mechanism for conveying information about changes in demand and supply conditions. The value of this system is that it gets individuals to conserve resources for higher valued uses,
even if they are unaware of the reasons for the initial
price change. Hayck, "The Use of Knowledge", pp.
Let us apply Hayek's ideas to investment behavior.
Suppose there is a shift in relative demands so that
consumers want more X and less Y. In the loanable
funds market there will now be a planned excess
demand for investment funds for use in the X industrv. Entre~reneurialalenness will then lead to a
bidding up o/ the interest rate on funds far use in X
(relative to Y). Consequently, a new short-run equilibrium will emerge in which the return on investment
in X will exceed the return in Y. This differential
return will then signal and induce investors to transfer
monies from Y to X. Over the long-run, as more
investors perceive the changed conditions, even more
funds will be redirected from Y to X until the
d ~ f t e r e n t ~ areturn
ban~shes. Conrcqucntly, eien
though tllecap~talstock remains constant. Its valuc to
consumers increases. rmcc resourin flow to htgher
For the above sequence to occur, it is only necessary
that a few entrepreneurs perceive the relative demand
change, and that they be free and motivated to act on
their knowledge. A price differential will then emerge
which will induce capitalists to shift funds from Y to
X. At the end of the process, the great majority of
individuals participating in the reallocation will not
know the original cause of the price differential.
This process, of course, is simply a n illustration
of the so-called "second fundamental law of demand". That is, "in the long run, more resources,
human and nonhuman, and more customers will
shift in response to a given difference in wages,
investment returns, or product prices and qualities
than in the short run". Sanborn, Whol, How, For
Whom, p. 226. Also see Armen Alchian and William
R. Allen, Exchange and Production: Competition,
Coordination, and Control (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1977). pp. 62-64 and p. 373,
IS. This idea, of course, is one of Hayek's great insights
and is best expressed by his statement that: "The
mere fact that there is one price for any commodity
brings about the solution which (it is just
conceptually possible) might have been arrived at by
one single mind possessing all the information which
is in fact dispersed among all the people involved in
the process". Hayek, ' T h e Use of Knowledge", in
I&EO, p. 86. For an application of this idea to entrepreneurial investment decision-making, see Sanborn.
16. For Hayek's definition of the economic problem o f
society, see "The Use of Knowledge", in IdiEO, PP.
77-78 and pp. 83-84.
17. Hayek, "Socialist Calculation 11". pp. 172-180. Also
see Hayek, "Socialist Calculation: The Competitive
'Solution"', in Bornstein, pp. 154-156.
G. Warren Nutter's criticism of market socialism
closely resembles Hayek's. In particular, Nutter
observes that: "Markets without divisible and transferableproperty rights are a sheer illusion. There can
be no competitive behavior, real or simulated, without
dispersed power and responsibility". Nutter, "Markets Without Property: A Grand Illusion", in Money,
the Market and the State, ed. Nicholas Beadles and
Aubrey Drewry (Athens: University of Georgia Press,
1968). p. 144.
18. See Deborah D. Milenkovitch, Plan and Market in
Yugoslav Economic Thought (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1971). pp. 101-102, n. 34. For a
description of Lange's model of market socialism, see
Oskar Lange, "On The Economic Theory of Socialism", in Bornstein, pp. 127-135. Originally published
in Review of Economic Studies, Val. 4, no. 1
(October. 1936). pp. 60-66.
19. For a detailed listing of the constraints on Yugoslav
enterprise behavior during the secalled "administrative period" (1947-1952). see the "Basic Law on State
Economic Undertakings", SlurbeniLlsIFNRJ(S.L.),
NO. 62l1946. Also see Drago Gorupit and Ivan Paj,
workers' Self-Managemen1 In Yugoslav Underlakings (Zagreb: Ekonomski Institut Zagreb, 1970), pp.
See Milenkovitch, Plan and Market, pp. 62-68 and
pp. 77-80. It is interesting to note that Kardelj
was advocat~ng,on the basis of Marxist-Leninist
erinciples, the adoption of workers' councils as early
as Julv 1949. Milenkovitch. m.65-66.
Scc ~ i l e n k o r i t c h ,p. 77. ~&'i(idrtc'$origmal contnbuuon, rce "Tere o ekonoms, prelamog pcrioda u
nasoj 7cmlj1". Komunlcr. Vol. 4, no. 6 (Nobcmber,
1950), pp. 1-20,
A l t h o u-~ hKidric advocated market socialism durine
the transition to communism, he believed that ultimately markets would have to be abolished. Moreover, he made specific proposals for state intervention during the transition period. In brief, he proposed the following constraints on enterprise autonomy. (1) Enterprises should be required lo achieve a
minimum utilization of capacity, consistent with the
planned value of output. (2) The state would continue
to plan the rate o f capital accumulation and allocate
investment funds; and (3) enterprises should be
subject to planned prices and tax rates based on the
federally determined "rate o f accumulation and
funds". This was the ratio of planned investment plus
social welfare expenditures to the planned wages
fund. Milenkovitch, pp. 80-89.
Milenkovitch. pp. 77-79.
"The Basic Law on the Management of State
Economic Enterprises and Higher Economic Associations by Work Collectives", S.L., no. 43, 26 June,
Ibid., No. 58. 29 December, 1951.
See Milenkovitch. p. 82 and p. 68.
S.L., No. 52, 1953.
Svetozar Pejovich, "Liberman's Reforms And Property Rights In the Soviet Union", Journal of Law
and Economics, vol. 12 (April, 1969), pp. 158-162.
"Net income" is the difference between the firm's
total revenue and its non-labor costs of production.
Under the net income system workers receive a
personal income that depends on net income, rather
than a fixed wage rate.
See, for example, Dusan BilandziC. Monogemen1 of
Yugoslav Economy (1945-1966) (Beograd: Yugoslav
Trade Unions, 1967); Joel 8. Dirlarn and James L.
Plummer. A n Introduction lo the YugoslovEconomy
(Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill Publishing
Company, 1973); GorupiC and Paj, Workers' SelJ
Management; and International Labour Office,
Workers Management in Yugoslavia (Geneva: International Labour Office, 1962).
For a more detailed description of the organizational
structure of the council, see "The Basic Law on the
Management of State Economic Enterprises and
Higher Economic Associations by Work Collectives",
Consliturion of the Socialisl Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia of 7 A p r i l 1963, S.L., No. 14, 10 April
1963, art. 92; International Labour Office, chapters
4-5; the Gorupit-Paj study, 1970; and Howard M.
Wachtel.. "Workers' Manazement and Ware Differenlral, m Yuguslavm" (Ph.U. dissenalion. Unnernty
oi M ~ i h ~ g a n1970).
The council LS rrspons~blefur adupting annual pro~~
duction and financial plans. These plans, however,
are not legally binding; they merely serve as guidelines
for implementing the council's policy decisions. The
"Law on the Planned Management of the National
Economy", S.L., made enterprises autonomous in
drafting their annual plans. For a detailed account of
oroduction olanninn in Yu~oslavia.see AIbeR Wateriton. ~ l a n r h gin ?ugosl&ia (Baltimore: The Johns
Hopkins Press, I%2).
34. See Branko Horvat, "Yugoslav Economic Policy in
the Post-War Period: Problems, Ideas, Institutional
Develooments". American Economic Review. Vol.
61. part 2 (June. 19711. o. 111
35. s.L.,No. j3, 12'~ece&r, 1957.
36. Ibid., art. 345.
37. This commission is appointed by the communal
council of producers and the local trade union organization. If an agreement cannot be reached, the district council of arbitration settles the matter. "Law on
Labour Relations", arts. 346 and 350.
38. "The Law on Assets of Economic Organizations".
S.L., No. 54, 28 December, 1957. Anicle I5 of this
law divided enterprise assets into four categories: the
"fund of fixed assets", the "fund of working assets",
the "reserve fund". and the "collective consumotion
fund". 11 also sltpuldt~dthat [he "allmalion of thc
ncl Income lo ihc funds shall be ~mplcmcnlcdby the
worker*' counc~l".Arucle 30 of rhc samc law ruled
that each fund must be used for its assigned purpose.
In 1%1, fixed and working assets were combined
to form the "business fund"; often referred to as the
"investment fund".
39. "Law on Assets of Economic Organizations",
S.L., no. 17, 16 April, 1961.
40. "Law on Labour Relations", 1957, section 5.
41. "Law on Assets of Economic Organizations", 1961.
42. See lnternational Labour Office. oo. 126-132.
43. See lnternational Labour off&;
chap. 10. For
specific examples of the distribution process in
enterprises, see "Working Collectives Dispose of the
Clear Income of Their Enterprises without Outside
Interference", Information Bulletin About Yugoslavia (I.B.A.Y.) vol. 4, no. 28, January 1959, p. 4;
"New Wage Scale Regulations in Enterprises",
I.B.A.Y., vol. 4, no. 29, February, 1959, pp. 1-2.
44. "Law on Labour Relations", 1957, arts. 186-187.
45. Rikard Stajner. Distribution oflncome in Enterprises
(Beograd: Yugoslav Trade Unions, 1%1), pp. 10-11.
46. The following discussion is based largely on: "The
Basic Law on the Management of State Economic
Enterprises", 1950; "The Basic Law of Enterprises",
S.L.. no. 17. 17 Aoril. 1%5. art. 49: International
~ a b b u roffice, pp: 8i-93; oru up it 'and Paj, pp.
116-1 18; and Bilandric, pp. 119-120.
47. See Bilandzit, p. I D , and lnternational Labour
Office. pp. 89-90.
48. The lnternational Labour Office's study points out
that the director's behavior was carefully monitored
by the organs of workers' management as early as
1960. lnternational Labour Office, p. 166.
49. GorupiC and Paj, p. 117, n. 27; and lnternational
Labour Office, pp. 85-108.
50. lnternational Labour Office, p. 85.
51. The following discussion is based largely on: Husein
Kratina, "The Legal Status of the Enterprise Director
within the Sdf-Management System", Yugoslav
Survey, vol. 9, November 1%8, pp. 55-56, 60;
Yunoskv Survey. vol. 5. Aoril-June 1964. no.
, lnterna1io"al
24%-2480; or%, pp. 1 ~ l b l and
Labour Office, chap. VI.
52. See Aleksander Bajt, "lncome Distribution under
Workers' Self-Management in Yugoslavia", in A
Ross, ed., Industrial Relations and Economic Development (London: Macmillan and Co., 1%6), p.
53. lnternational Labour Office, p. 108; and Kratina, p.
54. See Kratina, p. 57.
55. For an examole of the director's functions as soecified
by the statut; of a large Zagreb firm, see Gor;pii and
Paj, pp. 124-125, n. 36.
56. The joint selection commission' is composed of an
equal number of representatives from the council
and the local communal government. If the council
declines the proposed candidates, the commission
must hold a second competition. If the candidates
are again rejected, a new commission must be
appointed. In the event that the new commission's
candidates are rejected, the composition of the
commission must be changed so that an agreement
can be reached. Kratina, p. 55 and Yugoslav Survey,
vol. 5, April-June, 1964, p. 2479.
57. A request for the director's dismissal can be made
by the council or the collective. In either case, at least
one-third of the members must support the dismissal
motion. The communal authorities may also propose
the director's dismissal. If the commission accepts the
dismissal request, and the council decides to carry out
thedismissal, the director still has the right to appeal.
Yugoslav Survey, vol. 5, April-June, 1964, p. 2480.
In general, the director can be dismissed if he fails
to implement the council's policy decisions and/or if
he fails to promote the material success of the enterprise. "Basic Law of Enterprises", 1957, art. 57.
58. One of the difficulties faced by the Yugoslav system
of self-management has been to define the rights of
the director vis-d-vis the workers' collective. This is
made more problematic by the fact that the director is
considered a member of the "collective". Ekonomsko
Politika, a Yugoslav periodical, recognized the
essenceof this problem: " . we have a social system
in which neither private persons nor the state are the
owners of the business enterprise. This is a general
somehow there should be
devised a workable solution to the dilemma posed by
the fact that the director. . . is a member of the
enterprise [workers' collective], and that the enterprise [council as representative of the worken] makes
the important decisions". 29 April, 1%8, p. 519, in
Dirlam and Plummer, p. 28.
59. V. Trickovic, "Scientific Management", Ekonomska
Minro, no. 1, 1 x 9 , pp. 75-76, in Dirlam and
Plummer, p. 28.
60. Borbo, 7 January 1970, p. 4, in Dirlam and Plummer,
61. For a detailed discussion of the propeny rights issue
in Yugoslavia, see Milenkovitch, pp. 92-98, and chap.
62. "Decree on the Management of Fixed Assets of
Economic Oraanizations". S.L., no. 52, 1953.
63. "Social property" refers to all the assets of an enterprise regardless of their origin. Yugoslav law, how-
ever, makes a distinction between the enterprise's
"own assets" and those acquired on the basis of
credit. The former are obtained from allocations out
of net income and from State grants - these monies
become part of the enterprise's funds, while the
monies from loans do not. "Law on Assets of
Economic Organizations", 1957, art. 4 and art. 7
paras. 2-3.
64. "Law on Assets", 1957, arts. 8-9. Under Yugoslav
law the state retains the right to liquidate faltering
enterprises. See Milenkovitch, pp. 94-98.
65. "Decree on the Management of Fixed Assets", 1953,
and art. 10 of the 1957 "Law on Assets". Also see
Pejovich, "The Firm, Monetary Policy and Property
Rights in a Planned Economy", Wmern Economic
Journol, vol. 7 (September, 1%9), p. 194.
66. "Book value" refers to the original cost of the assets.
Yugoslavia periodically revalues fixed assets to adjust
for inflated replacement costs.
67. It is important to note that the so-called "right to
sell" social assets is apeculiarly limited one because of
the restrictions on the use of money received. See
Steven Kukoleca. "Problems of Business Policv in a
Yugoslav ~nterpnse", Florida Slavic Papers, iol. 2
(1%8), p. 24.
68. See Pejovich, "The Firm, Monetary Policy and
Property Rights", p. 194.
69. T o illustrate, suppose relative demands change due to
a change in consumer preferences, so that capital
should move from A to B. If the value of the nonhuman productive capacity in A is prevented from
decreasing by law, then monies flowing into that
industry will be tied to replacement costs, and cannot
be shifted to the higher valued use in B. Nonhuman
resources will, in effect, be prevented from shifting to
B, where consumers want them.
Note, workers in A could transfer ("sell") capital
to B, but any profit from doing so must be reinvested
in A. Therefore, workers in A would have little incentive to search for higher valued uses of capital,
and there would still be too much invested in A
relative to what consumers prefer.
Alternatively, the government could direct invesc
ment to those industries which are profitable. as
determined by consumer dollar votes - but who is to
capture the profits? If government officials cannot
capture present values, why should they have much of
an incentive to satisfy consumer preferences?
Finally. one other possible way of circumventing
the restriction on the right of use is for conglomerates
to dcvelop. They could maintain the total book value
of their assets, while channeling depreciation funds
into what appear to be the most profitable investments. Once again, however, the absence of capturable present values will impede the efficient flow of
nonhuman capital resources. And, if consumer
demands turn completely from the conglomerates'
products, the same problems we referred to above
70. See Horvat, "Yugoslav Economic Policy", p. 105.
With respect to the entry of new firms, it should be
mentioned that citizen groups can establish a new
firm. Once established, however, it must be handed
over to the workers who elect the management organs.
Furthermore. the original founders lose all claims lo
their investment once workers pay off their obliga-
tions. Howat, p. 104. For a detailed account of the
conditions of entry in Yugoslavia, see Stephen Sacks,
Enlry of New Competilors in Yugoslav Morkel
Socialism (Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, 1973).
"Decree on the Distribution of Total Revenue of
Economic Organizations", S.L., no. 16, 17 April,
1957, sections 11-Ill. Corupif and Paj point out
that the net income system did not become legally
binding until 1961. Workers Self-Ma~gemenl, p.
Recall that net income (cirr prihod) is the difference
between total revenue and total non-labour costs.
Under the "profit system", wages consisted of two
components: (1) a tax-free (guaranteed) fixed component - the "accounting wage" - that was paid
out monthly in accordance with the enterprise pay
scale; and (2) a taxable, variable component - the
"variable wage" - that was paid out one o r more
times a year depending on the enterprise's profit.
(Profit - dobit - was defined as the difference
between total revenue and total costs including fixed
woges.) Both components were tightly controlled by
the State: average monthly accounting wages were
set for each skill category, and the share of profitf
that could be earmarked for increasing accounting
wages was fixed in advance. Consequently, workers'
cpuncils had virtually no control over distribution
policy, and workers' income depended mainly on
their fixed wages. Gorupif and Paj, pp. 142-148.
The council did have the right to establish basic
pay rates for individual jobs in its pay scale. However,
the pay scale had to be approved by the communal
authorities and the trade union officials. Gorupii: and
Paj, p. 146.
See Eirik C . Furubotn and Svetozar Pejovich, "Property Rights and the Behavior of the Firm in a
Socialist State: The Example of Yugoslavia", Zeilschrifl flrr NalionnlOkonornie, vol. 30 (December,
1970), p. 433.
For a more extensive treatment of the reforms, see
the present author's doctoral dissertation, "lmplications Of Property Rights For Yugoslav Firm
Behavior: An Empirical Investigation, 1957-1968''
(University of Virginia, 1976). chap. 3.
Kresa Dzeba and Milan Beslaf, Privmdno Reforma
- Sfo i Zasto se Mijenjo (Zagreb. 1%5). p. 104.
In some instances this tax was a specific amount
rather than ad valorem, and was over 25%. See
Dirlam and Plummer, pp. 189-190.
The minimum personal incomes fund was established
by Federal law in 1959; it was to be "80 percent of the
workers' wages as per the pay scale". "Working
Collectives dispose of Income without interference", p. 4. For a schedule of enterprise income tax
rates see Svetolar Pejovich, The Morkel-Planned
Economy of Yugosiovio (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1966). p. 97, Table 15. Note that
after 3 December 1957. the amount bv which enterprse m o m e was allowed to excccd mlnlmum person.
al income, u ~ l t o u tbang sub~cctto tax changed from
25 to 20%.
The personal income tax was first introduced in
December 1957 as a progrewive tax. but uas later
rcp1a.d b) a flat Ilae tax rate (31 Demnber 1958).
On25 Nobcmbcr 1959. the rate was increased to 13%.
The local commune was entitled to at least 10% of
1965; "Law on Interest Rates on the Funds in the
personal income tax revenue. See "Law on ContribuEconomy", S.L., no. 35, 1%5, art. I. In 1965 the
tion to the Budgets from the Personal Incomes o f
system of differential turnover taxes was abolished; in
Workers", S.L., no. 52, 1957, art. 8; "Law on
its place was substituted a single-tier sales tax applied
Changes and Supplements to the Law on Contributions
to retail trade at a rate of 20%. Ljubomir Madzar,
to the Budgets from Worken' Personal Incomes", S L . ,
"Functional lncome Distribution in Yugoslavia",
no. 52, 1958, arts. 1, 6: "Law on Changes in the
paper read at CESES Seminar, Venice, Italy, 1973,
Law on the Contribution to Budgets from Workers'
Personal Incomes", S.L., no. 47, 1959, art. 4; InterThe tax rate on the book value of the business fund
national Labour Office. D. 219: and "Working
was lowered to 3.5% in 1%6; it became applicable
Collectives Dispose of the' Clear lncome o f ~ h e i
in 1967. Zbirka Saveznih Propiso (Colleclion of
Enterprises Without Outside Interference", I.B. A. Y.,
Federal Regulolions), no. 79, 1%9, p. 399. The effecval. 4 (January. 1959). p. 4.
tive rate, however, has always been below the legal
rate. Bajt. for example. estimated that in 1963 the
79. On the 1957-61 tax structure see the following sources:
average capital tax rate was 2.5%, while the legal rate
"Decree on the Distribution of the Total Revenue of
was 6%. Moreover, according to Horvat the effective
Economic Organizations of 1957", chap. 3; "Law on
capital tax rate in 1966 was 1.3%. Finally, Dirlam
Labour Relations of 1957". an. 126, "Law on Assets of
Economic Organizations of 1957"; "Law on Contribuand Plummer point out that the capital tax was
abolished in 1971. Bajt, "lncome Distribution under
tion to the Budgets from the Personal lncoma of
Workers", S.L. no. 52, 1957; "Working Colleniva
Workers' Self-Management in Yugoslavia", p. 254,
n. 7; Horvat, p. 139; and Dirlam and Plummer, p.
Dispose of the Clear lncome of Their Enterprises
Without Outside Interference", I.B.A.Y., p. 4;
87. Furubotn and Pejovich, "The Formation and Distrilnternational Labour Office, Chapter X; United
bution of Net Product and the Behavior of the
Nations, Economic Commission for Europe, "EconYueoslav Firm". Jahrbuch der Wirlschafr Osleuromic Planning and Management in Yugoslavia",
op& vol. 3 (19721, p. 275, Table 11.
Economic Bullerin for Europe, vol. 10 (Geneva,
88. BilandziC. r~
o. 116.
1958), pp. 43-62; Marijan HanzekoviC, Privredni
89. Cf. Furubatn and Pejavich, "Tax Policy and InvestSislem Jugoslavije (Zagreb: Narodne Novine, 1%8),
ment Decisions of the Yugoslav Firm", p. 336. In
pp. 191-192, and GorupiC and Paj, pp. 148-153.
their article, Furubotn and Pejovich d o not distin80. "Law on Contribution from the lncome of Econoguish among the business fund, the collective conmic Organizations", S.L., no. 8, 2 March, 1%1.
sumption fund, and the reserve fund; they simply
81. D4eba and Beslaf, p. 104.
refer to the "Internal Funds". This is somewhat mis82. The following taxes were levied on allocations to gross
leading 4n;e their 8 % e s t m a t d lax on allarauom
personal incomes. (a) A social security tax consisting
of a basic rate of 22% and a supplemental rate of
to lntcrnal Funds actually applicd only to allocations
to the r.ollecu\e consumption fund. See Rilandnc, p.
2%; (b) a personal income tax of 15%; (c) a housing
tax of 4%; and (d) a transportation tax of I%. A.
Polajner, The Enlerprise and National Income Dirfr90. "Law on Labour Relations", 1957, arts. 126, 184.
91. The highest organ of government in the commune is
burion (Beograd: Yugoslav Trade Unions, 1%3), pp.
the People's Committee. This committee is composed
of two chambers: (I) The People's Chamber, elected
Since all these taxes are paid directly by the enterby the direct vote of all citizens, and (2) The
prise out of its gross personal incomes fund, they
Producers' Council, elected by local enterprises. See
have the effect 01 arbitrarily increasing the cost of
International Labour Office, pp. 20-27.
labor, and will therefore affect the council's trade-off
92. "Workers' Management", Yuposlav Survey, vol. 1,
between human and non-human inputs.
no. I, April, 1960, p. 19.
83. "Law a n the Contribution to the Budgets fram
93. International Labour Office, p. 239; and Kiro
Workers' Personal Incomes", S.L., no. 17, 3 May,
Gligrov, "The Communal Economy", Internarional
1 x 1 , art. 13, paras. 1.7. Enterprises, however, could
be fully or partially exempted from this tax by the
SocialScience Journal, vol. 13, no. 3, 1 x 1 , p. 413.
94. "Law on Labour Relations", 1957, arts. 358-359.
95. Ibid., art. 360.
84. "Law a n the Contribution to the Social Investment
Funds", S.L., no. 8, 2 March, 1961. The revenue
%. Ibid., art. 192.
fram this tax was divided equally between the com97. "Preparation of Pay Scales in the 'Novkabel,
munal and republic investment funds. In 1%2 the tax
Factorv". I.B.A.Y.. vol. 4. March. 1959.. D.
98. "New initruments of lnterml ish hi but ion of Enterrate was increased to 30% and the republic's share
increased to 20%. Polajner. p. 48. This tax was abolprises' Income", I.B.A.Y., vol. 4, January, 1959, p.
ished I January 1964 by the "Law on the Cessation o f
the Importance of the Law on the Contribution to the
... .Social Investment Funds". S.L., no. 31, 22 July,
103. Stajner, p. I I.
101. lnternational Labour Office, p. 218.
1%4, art. I. The social investment funds were then
transferred to the credit funds of banks. Horvat, D.
102. "Law on Assets", 1957, art. 14; and lnternational
Labour Office, pp. 234-235.
103. International Labour Office, pp. 281-285.
85. "Law on the Formation of Total Revenue and
104. United Nations. "Economic Plannine in Yueoslncome of EcanamicOrganizations", S.L., no. 35.28
July, 1965.
lavia", p. 51.
86. "Basic Law on the Turnover Tax", S.L., no. 14, 105. See George W. Hoffman and Fred W. Neal. Yugos~~
Iavia and the New Communism (New York: Twentieth Century Fund, 1%9), pp. 244-245; and Milenkovitch, p. 115.
106. The purpose of social control, according to Stajner,
is to make workers more conscious of their obligation
to the community. In particular, workers should be
aware that investments in their firms' capital stock
will be socially as well as personally beneficial.
Stajner, p. 11. O f course, the lack of private ownershiv is sure to weaken individual investment incentives; hence, the need for social controls.
107. BilandziC, p. 89.
108. A. Bajt. "Economic Reform in Yugoslavia: The Role
of the Consumer", paper presented at the lnternational Summer seminar on Economic Reforms in
Eastern Europe: The Role of the Consumer. Venice,
Italy, 1971, p. 4.
109. Madzar, "Functional Income Distribution in Yugoslavia", p. 27.
110. Horvat, p. 115.
111. S.L., no. 8, 2 March, 1961.
112.S.L.,no.8,1961.
113. The refined texts being in S.L., no. 17, 3 May, 1961.
114. Articles 13 and 18.
115. It should be noted that the 1961 "Law on Labour
Relations" made the workers' council responsible
for adopting, separately, "Pravilnik o R a s p d e l i
Licnih Dohodaka" ("Rules on the Distribution of
Personal Incomes"). In these Rules the council had
"to establish in advance the bases and criteria for
determining workers' share in the distribution of
monies for personal incomes". Article 187.
116. Mika Spiljak has noted that under the net income
system of distribution, a worker's remuneration is
based not only on his individual productivity, but also
on the success of his work unit and the enterprise
as a whole. Mika Spiljak, The Distribution of the
Income of Enterprises a n d the System of Remuneration in Yugarlovia (Beograd: Publistickc-lzdavacki
Zavod Jugoslavija. 1961), pp. 29-30. This remuneration system, of course, introduces the freerider problem along with imputation difficulties.
Workers know that their incomes depend not anly on
their own (and their co-workers') efficiency, but
also on a whole host of other factors. Work incentives
may therefore be impaired relative to situations in
which these difficulties are less intense.
117. The 1962 Report of the Federal Executive Council
stated that in 1961 enterprises would no longer be
required to have their "criteria and scales for the
determination of workers' personal incomes approved
by the competent people's committee". "SacioEconomic Relations and Self-Government in 1962".
Yugoslav Sunrey, vol. 4, April-June, 1963, p. 1825.
118. Spiljak, pp. 21, 44-45.
119. See Bilandzif, pp. 95-96, 126; Horvat, pp. 112, 115;
Bajt, "Economic Reforms in Yugoslavia: The Role
of the Consumer", p. 5 ; A. Polajner, p. 32; and
Hoffman and Neal. o. 257.
120. S.L., no. 16, 18 ~ p h l 1962.
121. Horvat, p. 83.
122. "Law on the Formation of Commissions for the
Implementation of Regulations on the Distribution o f
Net Incomes of Economic organizations and Institutions". S.L.. no. IS. 11 April, 1962.
123. S.L., no. 16, 18 April. 19621
124. Ibid., art. 2.
125. See Dorn, Dis.., pp. 50-51.
126. Another incentive for employing labor intensive
methods of production before 1965 was provided by
the,favorabie tax treatment of allocations to personal
incomes vis-d-vis the funds. See Furubotn and
Pejovich, "Tax Policy", pp. 340-341.
127. "Instruction on the Implementation of the Principles
for the Distribution of Net Income", 1%2, arts.
18-24. Also see Bait.. "lncome Distribution under
Workers' Self-Management in Yugoslavia", pp.
128. S.L., no. 19, I5 May, 1963.
130. S.L.. no. 27. 10 Julv. 1963. For adetailed descriotion
of thc un~form~nd~rators.
scc Hanzckob~c. p. 194.
and Tcodor Tomx. Unurrasnja Raspodelo u Pmred.
nlm Organ~zac~jama
(Zagrcb. Informator. 1965). pp.
131. Bajt, "lncome Distribution under Workers' SelfManaeement in Yueoslavia". . o. 258. and "DecisionMaking in the Field of lncome Distribution", p. 11.
132. Madzar, p. 11.
133. Ibid.. pp. 8-9.
134. "Law on the Abolition of the Validity of the Law on
the Formation of Commissions for the implementation of the Regulations on the Distribution of Net
Income of Economic Organizations and Institutions", S.L., no. 15, 5 April, 1965.
135. For example, on July 24, 1965, the Federal Assembly
adopted the "Recommendation o n the Distribution of
lncome and of Personal Incomes in Working Organizations". S.L., no. 35, 28 July, 1965. This Recommendation was not legally binding; it simply recommended that enterprises determine their "Rules
on the Distribution of Income" and "Rules on the
Distribution of Personal Incomes" inaccordance with
the socialist principle of distribution "according to
work". meanine that oersonal incomes should increase anly if labor productivity increases.
136. Hanzekovif, p. 195.
137. For example, see Furubotn, "Towards A Dynamic
Model of the Yueaslav Firm". Canadian Journal of
Economics, "01. ;4 (May, 1971j, p. 183.
138. This section summarizes some of the implications
from chap. 3 o f my dissertation. The reader is referred to that chapter for a rigorous derivation and
formal testing of the implications which we shall
139. See above n. 2 for a definition of capital-rich and
capital-poor firms and industries.
140. The following discussion (pp. 27-28) draws heavily on
the work of Furubotn and Pejovich. Of special importance are: S. Pejovich, "The Firm, Monetary Policy
and Propeny Rights in A Planned Economy", pp.
193-199; Furubotn and Pejovich, "Property Rights
and the Behavior of the Firm in A Socialist State",
pp. 443-454; Furubotn and Pejovich, "Tax Policy",
pp. 335-348; and E. Furubotn, "A Dynamic Model
of the Yugoslav Firm", pp. 182-197.
141. For simplicity we represent private investment by
saving deposits in state banks. Yugoslav citizens may
also own land, apartments, and small businesses,
which may earn higher rates of return than paid on
savings accounts. Such investments, however, are
carefully monitored by the State.
142. For any given t and i, r * can be calculated from:
r* = i (I + 0'/[(1 + 0'-I\, which gives the annuity
whose present value is 1. As Pejovich points out, the
workers can be thought of as buying a n annuity when
they invest in their firm. And since their annuity from
depositing one dollar in a savings account is a' =
i (1 + )'/[I + IT-I], when n = the number of periods, it follows that investment in socially owned assets
) the council
must yield an equivalent return (i.
will consider investing in their firm's capital stock. See
Pejovich. "The Firm, Monetary Policy and Property
Rights", p. 195, n. 7.
We assume that investments in socially and
privately owned assets d o not differ with respect to
risk and liquidity, though privately owned assets
are, in fact, definitely more liquid.
143. Howard M. Wachtel, "Workers' Management and
Wage Differentials in Yugoslavia", p. 45.
144. These reasons are discussed in Milenkovitch, pp.
Wage Differentials in Yugoslavia", Journal of
PoliticlrlEconomy, vol. 80 (MaylJune, 1912), p. 548.
157. See
Dorn, Dirs., p. 125, Table 4.1 1, and p. 126, Table
158. Thomas A. Marschak, "Centralized versus Decentralized Resource Allocation: The Yugoslav Labora
tory", Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 82
(1%8), p. 580.
Marschak uses the term "rich enterprises" to
mean those with higher-than-average net income-perworker, and that have above average capital-perworker, and conversely for "poor enterprises".
159. See Dorn, Dirs., pp. 135-137.
160. Madzar, p. 22.
161. Cf. Benjamin Ward, who predicted such behavior
based on the assumption that workers will seek to
maximize net income-per-worker, which is equivalent
to maximizing personal income-per-worker with his
zero investment assumption. "The Firm in Illyria:
Market Syndicalism", American Economic Review,
145. See above, n. 86.
vol. 48 (September, 1958), pp. 566-589. Also see
146. However, for qualifications and alternative hypotheEvsey D. Domar, "The Soviet Collective Farm as a
ses, including other explanations or factors that
Producer Cooperative", American EconomicReview,
might push firms or industries to be capitalvol. 56 (September, 1966), pp. 734-757.
intensive or to adopt new technologies calling for
Our results indirectly lend support to the Wardian
heavy investments, see Dorn, D i n , pp. 143-153.
misallocative implications. That is, our findings
147. See Dorn, Diss., pp. 116-120.
suggest that Yugoslav firms seek to increase if not
148. See Dorn, Diss., p. 119 and pp. 121-122.
maximize net income-per-worker, once they can
149. For the specific regression model used to test this
influence and capture portions of extra income. Howhypothesis, and the empirical results, see Dorn, D k . ,
ever, this should not be taken to mean that workers
p. 121 and pp. 123-126.
seek to maximize their current personal income.
150. The "rieht of use" became more valuable because of
Rather, they seek to "maximize" personal income
rhc r d u r r w n in the raptrdl tax and othcr taxes, and
over their expected tenure with the firm. See Furubotn
becawe of rhc rcmuval of controls on ihe dlrtrrbullon
and Pejovich, "ProperIy Rights and the Behavior of
of net income as explained above.
the Firm in a Socialist State;" and Furubotn.
151. These two years were chosen by necessity: 1964 was
"Toward a Dynamic Model o f the Yugoslav Firm".
the first ye,r industry quit rates were available, and 162. Madzar, p. 25.
1966 was the last year of the Korae data series, which 163. Dinko DubravciC, "Labour as an Entrepreneurial
save us information a n the indeoendent variables
Input: A n Essay on the Theory of the Producer Coused in thr rcgrcsrlon analys~r.Houc\er, 1964 -an be
operative Economy", Eeonomica, "01. 37 (August.
u\cd to rcprcrent "lm!ted net incomc" f i r m , and
1970). pp. 305-306.
1966 .an reprerent "net tn;ome->eellng" flrms. It 1s 164. Ibid., p. 306, n. 1.
unfortunate that data was not available for the earlier 165. Ibid.
years, for this would have permitted us to check pre- 166. Aleksander Bajt. "Property in Capital and in the
\%I against post-1961 behavior. The KoraC data is
Means of Production in Socialist Economies",
taken from Miladin Korak. Anoliza ekonomskog
Journal of Law and Economics, vol. I1 (April. 1968),
polozojn privrednih gnrgacija nu bazi zakona vredpp. 1-4. Bajt's original contribution to the 1967nosti, 1962-1966 (Zagreb: Ekonomski Institut 1968 ownership controversy was entitled "Drustvena
Zagreb, 1968).
svojina - kolektivna i individualna". Gledisto, 9,
152. See Dorn, Diss., pp. 129-134.
no. 4, (April, 1968), pp. 531-544.
153. See Dorn, Diss., p. 128.
167. It should be noted that free entry will not bring about
154. See Dorn, Diss.. pp. 137-145.
a dampening of interfirm personal income-per155. Interfirm and interindustry personal income-perworker differentials as some individuals suggest.
worker differentials are explained, in part, by differWithout private capital markets, there is no reason
ences in capital-per-worker. Thus, increasing interto believe that theentry of new firms will significantly
firm and interindustry personal income-per-worker
alter the differentials in net income-per-worker among
differentials may reflect, in part, increasing differcapital-rich and capital-poor firms; because entry will
entials in personal income-per-worker between
not simificantlv affect the distribution of caoital
amanc firms alreadv
capital-rich and capital-poor firms and industries.
.--,in the industrv,
It is important to note that interfirm personal
Srcphcn Sacks rtiently pointed out rhar "
durincome-per-worker differentials refer to the variaingihedccade 1959-1968 thcrc was sufiic~cntcntry of
bility of the average personal income-per-worker
new enterprises t o maintain stable industrial structure.
of individual firms around the industry average,
despite the occurrence of mergers and banknot to the variability of individual incomes around the
ruptcies". In the light of our own and Wachtel's data,
average within an enterprise.
which show increasing interfirm and interindustry
personal income-per-worker differentials over this
156. Wachtel, "Workers' Management and Interindustry
period, one might infer that without private capital
markets, freeentry will not mitigate differences in net
income-per-worker and personal income-per-worker
among capital-rich and capital-poor firms. Stephen
Sacks, Entry of New Competitors in Yugoslav Market
Sociolirm, p. 3.
168. Mirko DautoviC, "Economic Integration", Yugarlov
Survey, vol. 9, May, 1968, p. 82.
In Dautovif, p. 82.
Eva BerkoviC, "Differentiation of Personal Incomes", Yugoslav Survey, vol. 10, February, 1969,
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