Economy, State and Society — DU B.A. (Hons.) Economics Previous Year Question Papers

Paper Name: Economy, State & Society Common Pool of DSE Semester III / V / VII Time: 3 hours Attempt alr one question fiom Part A and an three questions from Parl B l. Elucidate the view that people's material lives shape their ideas and thought structures as well as the political, legal and other such institutions. 2. What is meant by the surplus value and how is the rate of surplus value calculated? How is this rate affected by: (i) the working day becoming longer (iii) increase in productivity ollabour in the industry producing wage goods 4. "The constitution of a 'science' of economics as the most important form of social self-scrutiny of capitalist societies could not be attempted until moral issues, which defied the calculus of the market, were effectively excluded from the field of its investigations." (Robert Heilbroner). Elucidate with an explanation of the major 'cultural' changes in the arena of functional attitudes, morality and belief systems in the process of capitalist evolution. 5. Compare the 'power' of the capitalist and the'power' of the Capitalist State bringing out the nature of conflicting mutual interdependence between the two. 6. Delineate the reasons why business leaders may object to management of employment through government spending. In the face of mass pressure to maintain full employment, what is Michal Kalecki's hypothesis about how this objection would shape economic policy? 7. In what ways does the "necessity theory" of economic crisis differ from the "possibility theories"? Discuss. 8. Explain the significance of the "Reserve Army of Labour" in Marx's analysis of the functioning of the capitalist system. What problems are posed in capitalist accumulation in case the 'Reserve Army" is depleted and what are the possible consequences of such an eventuality? 9. What are the crucial assumptions on which the standard model of the market economy and its supposed efficiency are based? In what ways have the foundations of all these assumptions been challenged? Nessity her H " (Postty Theories) ∞ fa (Reserve Army