The Monopoly of Capitalism in Achieving the Welfare of Indonesian Democracy

The welfare state was a great achievement of civilisation in the 20th century. In this century, the State equips civil rights and freedoms with social rights. That is why democracy and the welfare state must go hand in hand. The welfare state has freedom with millions of people from their various social origins to fight market difficulties and open opportunities in life. Among other things, economic power can identify global competition, free markets, and various kinds of public policies that are oppressive. Market liberalisation demands social and economic resilience of the people so that the tide of the free market does not displace it. The modern economy is not just a slogan, but needs to be actualised to empower the economic capabilities of the lower classes of society.

The cycle of commodification: migrant labour, welfare, and the market in global China and Vietnam

China and Vietnam have experienced waves of labour and welfare reform since both countries shifted to market socialism, pursuing a development model that depends on the labour of millions of rural–urban migrants in global factories. Their similar development trajectories are productive for theorizing the relationship between labour and welfare. This article conceptualises the two countries’ distinctive regime of migrant labour welfare as integral to a cycle of commodification that encompasses the overlapping processes of commodification, de-commodification and re-commodification of labour. After decades of collectivized labour under state socialism, the cycle begins with the commodification of labour through market reforms that led to mass rural–urban migration and the rise of the global factory alongside the dismantling of the former socialist welfare system. It was then followed by de-commodification attempts aimed at providing forms of social protection that offset the labour precarity caused by decades of labour market liberalisation. Despite the emergence of new universal welfare programs, the market has increasingly intruded into social protection, especially through financialized products targeted at the labouring masses who must compensate for the failings of public welfare programs. As such, these welfare regimes are undergoing a process of re-commodification in which the protection of labour is re-embedded into the market as a commodity to be consumed by the migrant workers with their meagre wages. The “cycle of commodification” offers an analytical framework to understand welfare regimes as a social and political field that keeps evolving in response to the changing global valuation of labour.

AGRICULTURE TRANSITION AND WOMEN’S DECISION-MAKING POWER IN COFFEE-FARMING HOUSEHOLDS IN LAO PDR

The Lao government introduced a new period of economic liberalisation with the New Economic Mechanism (NEM) in 1986. The present study examines whether market liberalisation and women’s participation translated into changes in women’s decision-making power in the coffee growing region of the Bolaven Plateau in southern Lao PDR. While women have always been involved in coffee farming, their participation increased when the more labour-intensive arabica coffee plants were introduced to replace the less popular robusta variety in the region. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, the study examines gender decision-making within coffee-farming households. The findings show an increase in women’s participation in decision-making with the introduction of the arabica coffee plants; however, men still hold higher decision-making power in farming households. While the NEM has brought about economic growth and provided better livelihoods for coffee farmers, this has not necessarily translated into women’s empowerment. Economic growth is not enough to bring about gender equality, and there is still a need for specific policy interventions.

The agency of reformers in new European financial centres: A historically informed financial geography

While institutional frameworks are the dominant approach to analysing the geography of finance, this article focuses on how individual policymakers influence the characteristics of financial institutions and set, or even alter, financial centre development. The historical narratives from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that this article presents reveal post-socialist reformers’ contrasting philosophies and approaches, despite their shared goals of market liberalisation and European integration. These reforms (or lack thereof) differentiated the securities markets in Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest, especially with respect to financial intermediary mechanisms. Although the legacies of such reforms continue to shape an uneven landscape of financial centres in CEE, this article proposes reformer-centred narratives as an alternative to deterministic institutional thinking. The article argues that historical narratives that foreground the actions and ideas of key policymakers need to be included in the observation framework of financial centre development, in a similar way to how scholars analyse foreign policy by focusing on the heads of governments and ministers.

Análisis de la regulación sectorial de telecomunicaciones desde la perspectiva de la Escuela Económica Austriaca

Telecommunication services have been provided under a legal monopoly for the most part of its history. In 1998, market liberalisation was completed both in European Union and in Spain. This was accomplished under a legal framework which imposes asymmetric obligations to the incumbent operator, due to its past as monopolist. From that moment, regulatory pressure on market players has increased as the legal framework has evolved. These phenomena can be explained by the theory of price control, due to Ludwig Von Mises; the same theory may preview the future of the sector, if this tendency of regulation is continued. Key words: Regulation, asymmetric obligations, markets, monopoly, price controls. JEL Codes: B53, K23, L43, L51, L96. Resumen: Los servicios de telecomunicaciones se han prestado bajo un monopolio legal durante prácticamente toda su historia. En 1998, se com-pletó la liberalización del mercado tanto en la Unión Europea como en España. Esto se hizo bajo una normativa que impone obligaciones asimétricas al operador histórico del mercado, debido a su pasado monopolista. Desde entonces, la presión regulatoria sobre los agentes presentes en el sector ha crecido conforme ha evolucionado el marco normativo. Estos fenómenos se explican a partir de la teoría de control de precios, de Ludwig Von Mises, por lo que la misma también permite predecir el futuro que espera al sector de seguirse esta línea de regulación. Palabras clave: Regulación, obligaciones asimétricas, mercados, monopolio, control de precios. Códigos JEL: B53, K23, L43, L51, L96.