Contesting Money: public finance and the social limits of state power in Hungary, 1945-58

金钱竞争：匈牙利的公共财政和国家权力的社会限制，1945-58 年

• 批准号: ES/Y010302/1
• 负责人: Szinan Radi
• 金额: $ 15.3万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FY010302%2F1
• 关键词: Contesting; Money; public; finance; social

Having been at the centre of academic, political, and public discussions since the financial crash of 2008, money continues to be a puzzle in the post-pandemic world today. The fiscal capacity of states has been fiercely debated both on the political left and right in the wake of soaring energy prices and a cost of living crisis. Although since March 2020 governments around the world have unwittingly embarked on a course of increased fiscal intervention in public matters, commentators of this policy continue to warn us about the detrimental effects of 'socialist' fiscal conduct. This project will contribute to this discourse through considering money as a social institution regardless of economic system types to overcome the 'market-plan' dichotomy explicit in contemporary debates. It will provide a new theoretically-grounded empirical historical case study on how, and with what repercussions, the Hungarian postwar state prioritised fiscal policy over the central bank to create a stable money, prices, and full employment in 1945-58, from the world record hyperinflation of 1945-6 to the consolidation of communist power after the 1956 revolution. In arguing for a more nuanced and social relational understanding of the currency, the project will inform historiography as well as academic and policy debates on the fiscal limits of state power in remedying present day social and ecological issues. Moreover, the study will establish a new theoretical framework to study economic and political change based on the interrelationship of the means (taxes, bonds, credits, the lottery), methods (propaganda, wage and price policy), and implications (price levels, purchasing power) of public finance.My three interrelated aims in this project are (1) to produce a monograph based on my PhD thesis, (2) to build new networks for academic and non-academic cooperation, and (3) to disseminate my research and make impact by informing public discourse.(1) The monograph will explore state capacity, the social limits of fiscal control, and the effects of various voluntary (loans, savings deposits, the lottery), quasi-voluntary (state-loans), and involuntary (taxes) contractual fiscal arrangements on the development of political and economic change in postwar Hungary. It will offer a social history of money both 'from above' and 'below' through five chronological stages: the establishment (1945-6) and rethinking of the currency (1946-8); funding Stalinism (1948-53); financing the people (1953-6); and the consolidation of money (1956-8). I plan to submit the manuscript to Cambridge University Press by the end of the fellowship.(2) As well as drafting the monograph, I will establish new channels and activities to further research impact and public engagement. I will disseminate my research through presentations at two academic conferences and a specialist panel at the British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies. In addition, I will organise an international, interdisciplinary conference on the social history of money in the contemporary world. Besides early career and established scholars, I will invite representatives of British and Hungarian social science policy and research institutes to participate in a keynote and a roundtable to further international knowledge exchange by considering the ways in which historical case studies could help inform contemporary policy debates.(3) I will publish five short articles online during the length of the fellowship in order to make my research accessible to the wider public. This will include three empirical case studies on the fiscal dimensions of historical change in postwar Europe and two theoretical outputs on the ways reconsidering money as a social institution could help us address contemporary social and ecological issues. This will be achieved in collaboration with various media outlets such as History & Policy and The Conversation in the UK and Új Egyenloség and Mérce in Hungary.

自 2008 年金融危机以来，货币一直是学术、政治和公众讨论的中心，如今，货币仍然是大流行后世界的一个难题。政治左翼和右翼都对国家的财政能力展开了激烈的争论。在能源价格飙升和生活成本危机之后，尽管自 2020 年 3 月以来，世界各国政府已在不知不觉中开始加强对公共事务的财政干预，但该政策的评论者继续警告我们有关其不良影响。该项目将通过将货币视为一种社会制度（无论经济体系类型如何）来克服当代辩论中明确的“市场计划”二分法，从而为这一论述做出贡献。它将提供一个新的有理论依据的经验历史。案例研究，介绍了战后匈牙利国家如何将财政政策置于中央银行之上，以在 1945-58 年创造稳定的货币、价格和充分就业，从而避免了创纪录的恶性通货膨胀，并产生了哪些影响。 1945 年 6 月至 1956 年革命后共产主义政权的巩固 为了对货币有更细致和社会关系的理解，该项目将为史学以及关于国家权力的财政限制的学术和政策辩论提供信息，以纠正目前的情况。此外，该研究将建立一个新的理论框架，以手段（税收、债券、信贷、彩票）、方法（宣传、工资和彩票）的相互关系为基础来研究经济和政治变革。我在这个项目中的三个相互关联的目标是（1）根据我的博士论文编写一本专着，（2）为学术和非学术界建立新的网络。学术合作，以及（3）传播我的研究并通过告知公众话语产生影响。（1）该专着将探讨国家能力、财政控制的社会限制以及各种自愿（贷款、储蓄存款、彩票）的影响。 ),战后匈牙利政治和经济变革发展中的准自愿（国家贷款）和非自愿（税收）契约财政安排将按照五个时间顺序提供“自上而下”的货币社会历史。 ：货币的建立（1945-6）和反思（1946-8）；资助斯大林主义（1948-53）；为人民提供资金（1953-6）； （1956-8）。我计划在奖学金结束时将手稿提交给剑桥大学出版社。（2）除了起草专着外，我还将建立新的渠道和活动，以进一步提高研究影响力和公众参与度。通过在英国斯拉夫和东欧研究协会的两个学术会议和专家小组上的演讲来传播我的研究成果。此外，我还将组织一场关于当代世界货币社会史的国际跨学科会议。知名学者，我将邀请英国和匈牙利社会科学政策和研究机构的代表参加主题演讲和圆桌会议，通过考虑历史案例研究如何帮助当代政策辩论提供信息，进一步促进国际知识交流。(3) 我将出版五篇短文在奖学金期间在线发表文章，以便让更广泛的公众了解我的研究，这将包括关于战后欧洲历史变革的财政维度的三个实证案例研究，以及关于重新考虑货币作为一种社会制度的方式的两个理论成果。可以帮助我们应对当代社会这将通过与英国的 History & Policy 和 The Conversation 以及匈牙利的 Új Egyenloség 和 Mérce 等各种媒体合作来实现。