Chapter 10.1.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of economic planning

10.1. Ecological sustainability quotas

The starting point of a sustainable planned economy is the formulation of a global economic plan. At that time, ecological sustainability goals form the premise of the world economic plan. In this respect, it is in contrast to the former Soviet Union's developmental planned economy, which prioritized economic development, where production quotas were presented as the premise of the economic plan.

Such ecological sustainability goals are not simply the goals of environmental protection policies, but are normative quotas that define each economic plan as a whole, in the sense that they form the prerequisite criteria for each three-year economic plan. Therefore, ecological sustainability is clearly stated as a normative numerical value at the beginning of each three-year economic plan.

The specific item composition is currently considered to be as follows, but we do not exclude the possibility of further improvements such as adding new items or subdividing or refining the indicators for each item as environmental science research progresses.

①Climate change: Greenhouse gas emission index 

② Ozone layer depletion: Ozone depleting substance consumption index 

③ Eutrophication: Nitrogen and phosphorus emissions to hydrosphere and soil 

④ Acidification: Acidifying substance emission index 

⑤ Toxic substance status: Heavy metal and organic compound emissions 

⑥ Urban air quality: Sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compound emissions in urban area 

⑦ Water Resources: Intensity of water resources use (amount extracted / amount of available resources) 

⑧ Fishery resources: Catch of fish 

⑨ Forest resources: Intensity of forest resources use (actual harvest / production capacity) 

⑩ Soil degradation (erosion / desertification): Potential and actual land use for agriculture 

⑪ Waste: Amount of general waste, industrial waste, toxic waste, nuclear waste 

⑫Biodiversity Area of protected biodiversity areas, target population of endangered species, etc.

In the actual world economic plan, normative target figures for each of these indicators will be presented every three years. Therefore, for example, with regard to climate change, greenhouse gas emission control targets for each of the next three years will be set out in a normative manner, rather than being set as lofty long-term targets as are the current international target figures. 

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 9.5.

 👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 9: Time and space frameworks for planning

9.5. Geographical scope of Zonal economic plans

Economic plans (Zonal economic plans) formulated on each Zonal basis, based on the general framework of the world economic plan of the World Commonwealth and in accordance with a series of linked scheduling, will basically apply to the geographical area covered by the Zonal administration.

In this regard, it should be noted that　depending on the political structure of the Zone, the geographical scope of application of Zonal economic plans differs between a single Zone and a Joint-Zone consisting of the combination of multiple Zones.

In the case of a single Zone, the Zonal economic plan corresponds to the geographical area over which the administrative power of the Zone extends. However, there are two types of Zonal structures: a decentralized federal type and a more centralized unitary type. In the case of a federal type, the decision as to whether or not each of the Quasi-Zones (Zonelets) that make up the federal Zone should formulate its own economic plan is left to the independent judgment of each of the federa lZones.

If each Zonelet formulates its own economic plan, the Zone's planned economy will be decentralized. One problem with this type of geographical decentralization is that it may lead to competition over the allocation of benefits between the Zonelets. This problem also arose when decentralization reforms were implemented in the planned economy system of the former Soviet Union, which was once a federal state.

If competition for the allocation of benefits intensifies, it could lead to structural factors such as corruption, and there is a risk that the schedule for formulating the Zonal economic plan will be delayed. To avoid such disadvantages, it is desirable for economic planning to be centralized even in a federal Zone; however, even if a Zonelet formulates its own economic plan, it will be within the framework of the economic plan of the entire Zone, and therefore the Zonelet 's economic plan will still constitute part of the Zonal economic plan.

In contrast, one of the main aims of a Joint-Zone is for small and medium-sized Zones that do not have an industrial base sufficient to formulate economic plans on their own to join together and formulate a joint, common economic plan in the form of a division of labor while making use of the economic characteristics of each Zone. In this case, the common economic plan will therefore be applied in common to all of the Zones that make up the joint.

Incidentally, the Grand-Zone, which is made up of wider continental entity, is not the entity that formulates economic plan, but is simply geographical entity that represents economic cooperation and other mutual cooperation within the Zone. Therefore, economic cooperation within a Grand-Zone is itself an intra-regional agreement and not an economic plan, but it supplements the Zonal economic plan and, so to speak, forms the outer part of each Zonal economic plan.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 9.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 9: Time and space frameworks for planning

9.4. Scheduling of Zonal economic plans

Economic plans in the Zones are at the forefront of planned economies, but unlike the national economic plans of the former Soviet Union's "Socialism in One Country," they are branch economic plans that are based on the global world economic plan, and therefore the world economic plan takes priority in terms of their formulation schedule.

As a result, while both plan cycles are three years, the three-year starting point of the world economic three-year plan and the Zonal economic three-year plan differ, and the Zonal economic plan takes precedence.

The formulation process of the Zonal economic plan begins when the world economic three-year plan is passed and enacted at the World Commonwealth General Assembly and goes into effect. From there, it takes about three to four months to formulate the Zonal economic plan, and once it has been passed and enacted at each Zonal Commons' Convention, the first planning year begins.

As a concrete example of such a series of schedules, if we set the coming into force of the world economic plan to January for easy understanding, the formulation process of the Zonal economic plan would begin in the same month, and it would be passed and enacted by April or May of the same year, with the first planning year of the Zonal economic plan starting.

The Zonal economic plans are organized in a multi-layered manner, incorporating the general production plan (Division A), the agriculture, forestry and fisheries plan (Division B), the pharmaceutical plan (Division C), and the local consumption plans, with the energy plan serving as the foundation for all plans.

Division A is formulated based on the energy plan, and the remaining Divisions B, C, and consumption plans are formulated based on Division A. Therefore, in the practical formulation work, the energy plan and Division A take precedence, and the formulation work for the remaining plans follows accordingly.

Furthermore, the consumption plan formulated for each greater local area is inseparably related to Division A and B which relate to the entire Zone, and especially to Division B in relation to the supply of food, which is the core of the consumption plan. For this reason, consumption plans will be formulated almost in parallel with Division B.

However, in a federal Zone, if a system were adopted in which each Quasi-Zone (Zonelet) formulates its own economic plan, the economic plans of each  Quasi-Zone would have to fit within the economic planning cycle of the federal Zone, resulting in a complex system in which the formulation of economic plans for a Zone and each Quasi-Zone economic plan would be carried out simultaneously.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 9.3.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 9: Time and space frameworks for planning

9.3. Overall scheduling of plans

In a planned economy, the key to sound economic management is to set a schedule and steadily implement it. In this regard, the time frame for scheduling such plans is the planning cycle period. In a sustainable planned economy, it is three years.

Starting with the original first three-year economic plan, each cycle of subsequent three-year plans is built up every three years, and these cycles are accumulated in ordinal numbers, starting with the first economic plan, followed by the second, third, etc.

Each three-year period is divided into the first planning year, second planning year, and third planning year, but this is merely a formal division, and the implementation content of the plan does not differ for each planning year, but the plan is simply organized into a three-year cycle as a whole.

Since this three-year cycle is the implementation period of each plan, naturally the formulation of each subsequent plan must begin before the start of the first month of the first year of the plan, which is the starting point of the three years. In that respect, a sustainable economic plan that spans three spatial layers - the World Commonwealth, the Zone, and the greater local area - will not function unless the scheduling of each of these three layers is organically linked together.

Considering the burden of the wide-ranging metrological work, the formulation of the three-year world economic plan, which is the starting point for all plans, needs to begin one year before the current plan ends (or one year before the start of the first three-year plan, for which there is no previous plan).

Furthermore, this process needs to be completed no later than six months by a resolution of the World Commonwealth General Assembly, taking into account the schedule leeway for the formulation of the Zonal economic plans that are based on that.

If we set the start month of the three-year world economic plan to January for easy understanding, then formulation of the next plan will begin in January, when the third planning year of the current plan begins, and the next three-year world economic plan will be completed by July of the same year.

Using the completed world economic plan as a base, the process of formulating economic plans in each Zone will begin. This process consists of two layers, the Zonal economic plan (core production plan) and the greater local economic plan (consumption plan) within the Zone, and it will be completed in the last six months of the third planning year of the current plan.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 9.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 9: Time and space frameworks for planning

9.2. Overall picture of the planning process

Before we look at the time and space framework of planning, we will present an overall picture of the economic planning process based on the World Commonwealth, which can be organized into the following three major stages.

① Formulation of the world economic plan in the World Commonwealth

⇒ The world economic plan is really a set of guiding principles that serves as the overall blueprint for economic planning in the World Commonwealth. It is centered on an overall production plan that incorporates an energy plan as a premise, and a production plan that takes into account the demand and supply outlook that takes into account the environmental situation and population of each Grand-Zone. In formulating the plan, environmental policy organizations such as the World Environment Programme are also involved in the establishment of environmental standards. The plan is reviewed by the World Community institutions and finally approved by the World Commonwealth Commons' Convention and put into effect.

② Formulation of economic plans in each constituent Zone

⇒ The Zonal economic plan is a respective plan for each member Zone of the World Commonwealth, developed by the planning body (Economic Planning Conference) of each Zone within the framework of the world economic plan. This plan is frontline plan that will directly affect the daily lives of the people. It is divided into three areas: Division A for general production, Division B for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and Division C for pharmaceuticals as a special production area. It also includes a surplus plan in preparation for disasters and infectious disease pandemics. The plan will be deliberated and approved at the Zonal Commons' Convention before coming into effect.

③ Formulation of economic plans in greater local area

⇒The economic plan in greater local area is a consumption plan for each greater local area (Provincial Area or Quasi-Zone) within each Zone. Since the principle of a sustainable planned economy is local production for local consumption, the  Zonal economic plan should be the general framework, while plans for the distribution and consumption of daily living goods, especially food, should be formulated for each greater local area. The plan is formulated by the local consumer business association and is deliberated and approved at the Commons' Convention in each greater local area before coming into effect.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 9.1.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 9: Time and space frameworks for planning

9.1. Overview

As with planned economies in general, the planned economy process has two dimensions: time and space. The time dimension is the time span covered by a specific plan. In this regard, the former Soviet Union's economic plans were based on a five-year standard, but a sustainable planned economy is based on a three-year standard.

There is no absolute formula for how many years should be set as the time frame for such planning, but the time frame for a sustainable planned economy is set at three years and mid-term because it is based on the prediction of a variable natural phenomenon, namely the state of the global environment, and mid-term planning is considered more appropriate than long-term planning that lasts more than three years.

Once this time frame for planning is decided, it is in principle followed thereafter and cannot be changed for each plan. If the three-year time frame is to be changed to a longer period, it must be done on an appropriate and rational basis. (On the other hand, changing it to a shorter period of less than three years would be inappropriate, as it would make the time frame for planning too cramped and would in fact lose its significance as a plan.)

Partial changes to the content of each plan during the planning period due to revisions to global environmental forecasts or the occurrence of unexpected disasters are permitted as appropriate, as they are different from changes to the time frame for planning.

On the other hand, the spatial framework for planning is the question of which region the economic plan will be formulated in. It can also be rephrased as the geographical scope of planning. In this respect, while the former Soviet Union-style economic plan had a spatial framework of a single sovereign nation, the sustainable economic plan extends in a multi-layered manner to three spaces: the World Commonwealth, the Zone, and the greater local area within the Zone.

These three spatial frameworks are not completely equal, and the world economic plan in the World Commonwealth serves as an upper limit (= cap) that covers the entire globe, and the Zonal economic plan functions as an allocation (= quota) within that range.

The economic plans of the greater local areas within a Zone are plans related exclusively to consumption, and have significance as the consumption sector of Zonal economic planning. This differs from the "decentralization of planning" that was attempted as a reform measure for the planned economy in the former Soviet Union, and is a functional differentiation that is built into the structure of planning from the very beginning.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 8.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 8: Planning Organizations

8.4. Organizations related to local economic planning

The term "local" here has a different meaning between a unitary Zone and a federal Zone. In the former case it refers to a Provincial Area as a wide local authority, while in the latter case it refers to a Quasi-Zone (a Zonelet) that makes up the federal Zone.

Among these, a Quasi-Zone, as its name suggests, is similar to a Zone and is self-contained like states in current federal states, so it could be argued that it should be allowed to have the authority to formulate its own economic plan (production plan) just like a Zone.

In the case of a federal Zone, the bare minimum would be to allow economic representatives from each Quasi-Zone to participate in the Economic Planning Conference that is involved in formulating economic plan for the entire Zone. Beyond that, whether or not to grant Quasi-Zones the authority to formulate their own economic plans is left to the autonomous decision of each federated Zone.

Whether unitary or federal, the core of local economic planning is the consumption plan. A consumption plan is an economic plan limited to consumption, formulated with the goal of local production and consumption, and the organization that formulates it is a Consumer Business Organization established in each local area.

A Consumer Business Organization is itself a supplier of daily necessities, and at the same time, it is also an organization that formulates consumption plan. Furthermore, since local end consumption cannot be unrelated to the economic plan of the entire Zone, each Consumer Business Organization sets up representative division at Zonal Economic Planning Conference and to be involved as an observes in the formulation of the Zone's economic plan.

A Consumer business Organization has many goods-producing enterprises as affiliated organizations, but most of these enterprises are self-managed enterprises (the Production Cooperatives) that are basically outside the scope of the planned economy. These enterprises are not directly involved in the formulation of consumption plan, but they create their own in-house production plans and produce within the scope of the consumption plan.

Incidentally, since food accounts for a significant portion of the goods supplied by the Consumer Business Cooperatives, the Agricultural Production Organizations and Fishery Production Organization, which are involved in the production of agricultural and fishery products that are the raw materials for food, are also important parties in terms of consumption planning. Specifically, their local offices are involved in consumption planning by also serving as corporate members of the Consumer Business Cooperatives.

In other words, the Agricultural Production organizations and the Fisheries Production Organizations are doubly involved in economic planning, as they are involved in Zonal economic planning as an organization as a whole, and at the same time, are involved in local consumption planning at the local office level.

Furthermore, a consumption plan is submitted to the local Commons' Convention (the Provincial Commons' Convention in the unitary type, and the Quasi-Zonal Commons' Convention in the federal type) and come into effect after deliberation and resolution, which is the same structure as Zonal economic planning.

In that respect, the Consumer Business Cooperatives are conference bodies run by representative system, with all residents of the jurisdiction automatically as members, and in themselves can be said to have the significance of a lower house of the local authority.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.