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，在当今后疫情时代，货币仍然是一个谜。在能源价格飙升和生活成本危机之后，政治左翼和右翼都对国家的财政能力进行了激烈的辩论。尽管自2020年3月以来，世界各国政府在不知不觉中开始加大对公共事务的财政干预，但这一政策的评论员继续警告我们“社会主义”财政行为的有害影响。本项目将通过将货币视为一种社会制度而不考虑经济制度类型来克服当代辩论中明确的“市场-计划”二分法，从而促进这一论述。它将提供一个新的基于理论的实证历史案例研究，从1945年至1958年的世界纪录恶性通货膨胀到1956年革命后的共产主义政权巩固，匈牙利战后国家如何优先考虑财政政策，而不是中央银行，以创造稳定的货币，价格和充分就业。在主张对货币进行更细致入微的社会关系理解时，该项目将为史学以及关于国家权力在纠正当今社会和生态问题方面的财政限制的学术和政策辩论提供信息。此外，本研究还将建立一个新的理论框架，以研究经济和政治变革的相互关系为基础的手段（税收、债券、信贷、彩票）、方法（宣传、工资和价格政策）及其影响（价格水平，购买力）。我在这个项目中的三个相互关联的目标是（1）根据我的博士论文撰写一本专著，（2）建立新的学术和非学术合作网络，（3）传播我的研究，并通过告知公众话语产生影响。(1)该专著将探讨国家能力，财政控制的社会限制，以及各种自愿（贷款，储蓄存款，彩票），准自愿（国家贷款）和非自愿（税收）的契约财政安排对战后匈牙利政治和经济变革发展的影响。它将通过五个时间顺序阶段提供一个“自上而下”的货币社会史：货币的建立（1945-6）和反思（1946-8）;资助斯大林主义（1948-53）;资助人民（1953-6）;和货币的巩固（1956-8）。我计划在奖学金结束前把手稿交给剑桥大学出版社。(2)除了起草专著，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。我将通过在两个学术会议上的演讲和英国斯拉夫与东欧研究协会的专家小组来传播我的研究。此外，我将组织一个关于当代世界货币社会史的国际跨学科会议。除了早期的职业生涯和建立学者，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一个主题演讲和圆桌会议，通过考虑历史案例研究可以帮助告知当代政策辩论的方式，进一步促进国际知识交流。(3)我将在奖学金期间在网上发表五篇短文，以使更广泛的公众能够了解我的研究。这将包括三个实证案例研究的财政层面的历史变化在战后欧洲和两个理论产出的方式重新考虑货币作为一种社会制度可以帮助我们解决当代社会和生态问题。这将通过与英国的History & Policy和The Conversation以及匈牙利的Aguj Egyenloség和Mérce等各种媒体的合作来实现。