Chapter 10.5.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of Economic Planning

10.5.  Structure and details of the broader local economic plans

The broader local economic plans, while linked to the Zonal economic plans, are economic plans primarily concerned with consumption. In that sense, they are the most special economic plans within the overall system of economic plans, with the world economic plan at its apex, as they relate to end-user demand. The core of such consumption plans is the supply plan for everyday consumer goods.

In this regard, consumption plans under sustainable economic plans involve the planned supply of consumer goods in quantities and qualities that are consistent with environmental sustainability, in response to anticipated demand calculated backward from the predetermined quantity and quality of waste.

Since such waste quantity and quality control must be formulated in each Zone based on global standards, waste control standards are set forth in the world economic plan and the Zonal economic plans, and the broader local economic plans are formulated based on those standards. To that extent, the broader local economic plans constitute a tertiary part of the overall system of sustainable economic plans.

The details of the plan include a supply plan for each category of core consumer goods, such as basic daily food items, electrical appliances, furnishings, and sanitary products that are essential to modern life. Among food items, agricultural and marine products are linked to Division B in the Zonal economic plan, and are therefore restricted by the Zonal economic plan.

In addition, electrical appliances and furnishings that are large and likely to become bulky waste will be supplied on a loan basis for reuse. The ratio of loaned items to donated items will be calculated based on waste standards.

Furthermore, the broader local economic plans will also include a supply plan for stockpiled consumer goods based primarily on surplus production in anticipation of disaster emergencies. While quantitative waste regulations do not apply to the supply of stockpiled consumer goods (qualitative standards do apply), it goes without saying that their release in normal times is prohibited.

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

Chapter 10.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of Economic Planning

10.4. Structure and details of the Zonal economic plans

The zonal economic plans are secondary economic plans formulated for each Zone within the broad framework of the world economic plan, and are the core plans of the overall sustainable planned economy.

In classical economic planning, they are equivalent to the central economic plans of each country. However, it is important to note that they differ significantly from classical planned economies in that they are bound by the world economic plan and the Zones that formulate them are not exclusive sovereign states.

In relation to the latter, in the Joint-Zones, where multiple Zones are loosely united with the primary purpose of formulating economic plans collaboratively, economic plans are formulated not for each of the constituent Zones, but for the Joint-Zones as a whole.

The details of Zonal economic plans, including such joint economic plans, are similar to those of the world economic plan, and therefore essentially follow those of the world economic plan, beginning with the energy plan and followed by detailed production plan (Division A). Similarly, the details are classified according to the industry that places a burden on the main elements of the global environment: air, soil, water resources, or biological resources.

However, with regard to the energy plans, the details of each Zone's economic plan are diversified in that any energy sources that cannot be produced within the Zone will be comprehensively supplied through the World Natural Resources Organization, and similarly, any products that cannot be produced within the Zone will be cooperatively supplied from other Zones.

Another important point is that the economic plan for the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector (Division B) is formulated separately as a detailed item of the Zonal economic plan. Because the world economic plan does not include plans for the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector, which has large variations due to differences in Zonal ecosystems and eating habits, the Zonal economic plan will serve as the primary economic plan for this sector, with detailed items presented for each sector: agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

Furthermore, as with the world economic plan, the environmental guidelines that form the basis for the overall outline of the economic plan will be clearly stated in a separate table. These guidelines are basically condensed versions of the guidelines set out in the world economic plan, but if stricter guidelines are set than those in the world economic plan, they will need to be described in detail.

The pharmaceutical plan (Division C), the third pillar of the Zonal economic plan, has a unique structure due to the nature of pharmaceutical products, and will be described again in the final section of this chapter.

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

Chapter 10.3.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of Economic Planning

10.3. Structure and details of the world economic plan

The three-year world economic plan, which forms the core of a sustainable planned economy, is a global plan for the entire world, and serves as the standard for economic plans in each of the Zones that make up the World Commonwealth. As such, it is also a template for the plans of each Zone.

However, since the world economic plan is more of a cap indicating the upper limit of production activity in each Zone rather than a production target, its description is general and can be thought of as a kind of introduction to the economic plans of each Zone.

As for its structure, first an overview is presented at the beginning that gives an overall picture of the three-year plan. This is the introduction to each detail of the plan, and at the same time it also serves as a summary of the three-year plan.

Next, the energy plan is presented. This is the foundation for realizing a sustainable planned energy supply with the aim of correcting excessive energy consumption, which is a major cause of environmental destruction. It can be said to be a major part of the world economic plan.

The central point is the plan for the supply of renewable energy, but it should be noted that the supply of fossil fuels will not be eliminated. Fossil fuels will not be eliminated altogether, but will be supplied in a planned and reduced manner to supplement renewable energy. In that respect, it is the opposite of the energy composition in a capitalist economy.

Next are the details of the production plan. Here, as we saw last time, the essence of a sustainable planned economy is that industries are classified not by industry type, but by which of the major elements of the global environment they place a burden on.

In other words, the classification criteria are air-burden industries, soil-burden industries, water-resource-burden industries, and biological-resource-burden industries. Comprehensive burdening industries that span multiple elements are classified in an overlapping manner.

The details of this production plan are the specifics of the world planned economy. In formulating the plan, the regional planning volumes for each of the five Grand-Zones in the World Commonwealth will be taken into account, but production plans will not be divided among the five Zones to avoid a scramble for each other's volumes.

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

Chapter 10.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of Economic Planning

10.2. Industrial classification and production targets 

In formulating an economic plan, it is important to have an industrial classification that serves as a framework for subdividing the plan, since it is required to specify numerically the industrial classification and the production targets for each item for the planning period.

The industrial classification from primary to tertiary by the British economist Colin Clark is well known. This classification was proposed as an instrumental concept to explain economic development from the primary industry centered on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, through the secondary industry centered on industry, to the tertiary industry centered on intangible services.

The Clark Industrial Classification itself is a very crude classification and does not constitute a framework for a planned economy, but in a sustainable planned economy, the economic plan for the primary industry (Division A) is to be formulated separately from other economic plans.

Incidentally, NAICS (North American Industry Classification System), an standard industry classification system jointly developed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, uses a six-digit code to classify each industry: the first two digits designate the largest business sector; the third digit represents the subsector; the fourth digit represents the industry group; the fifth digit represents  the NAICS industries, and the sixth digit represents the national industries.

However, the standard industrial classification is also an economic statistical classification, which includes culture-related businesses, health and welfare-related businesses, and other free-production sectors that are outside the Sustainable Economy Plan, so it cannot be used directly as a framework in a planned economy. However, it has validity in economic statistical analysis that includes the free production area.

While these industry classifications are classifications for the purpose of classification itself, the industry classification in a planned economy is a standard classification framework for specifying the specific goals of planned production in a more dynamic manner.

In this regard, the input-output table by Vasily Leontief was originally a newly devised table inspired by the reproduction table formula devised by Marx to analyze the smooth process of reproduction and distribution of capital, but its purpose of use is to analyze the input/output in actual production and distribution activities. The purpose of its use is to analyze the inputs/outputs of real production and distribution activities.

Since such input-output forecasting is an indispensable process in setting production targets for each planning period, the input-output table will be of great use in a sustainable planned economy.

The Marxian reproduction formula of production sector I and consumption sector II was applied in Soviet economic planning to separate the two major sectors, and industrialization was strongly promoted with an emphasis on sector I. 

In our sustainable planned economy, however, the emphasis is not placed on either Production Goods Sector I or Consumption Goods Sector II, but rather economic planning for general consumption goods was separated from the general economic planning for the whole Zone, and is formulated as a consumption plan for each local area.

In addition, a separate, prerequisite plan for energy, which is the source of power for all production activities, would be formulated as an energy plan.

The industrial classification that will serve as a detailed framework for the development of the general economic plan should reflect the greatest emphasis on environmental sustainability in particular, and should be classified in terms of which industries add the main burden to air, soil, water, and biological resources.

The classification would not be based simply on the type of product, such as machinery, metal, or chemical industries, but would be based on a detailed environmental scientific analysis of the production activities of each industry, and would be organized into major categories based on the environmental load, such as air-loading, soil-loading, water-loading, and biological resource-loading industries. 

In this regard, industries that emit a large amount of greenhouse gases in the production process or their products, which is currently the primary focus, will be classified as air-loading industries, and the largest number of industries will be in this category. There may also be overlapping classifications.

The industrial classification that will serve as a subdivision framework for formulating general economic plans could be based on whether the industry places the main burden on the air, soil, water resources, or biological resources, reflecting the fact that the greatest emphasis is placed on environmental sustainability.

In that case, rather than simply classifying industries according to the type of production, such as machinery, metals, chemicals, etc., industries would be organized under major classifications based on the target of environmental burden, such as air-burden industries, soil-burden industries, water resource-burden industries, and biological resource-burden industries, based on a detailed environmental scientific analysis of the production activities of each industry.

In this regard, industries whose production processes or products emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, which are the current focus of attention, would be classified as air-burden industries, and this would likely be the largest category of industries. There may also be industries that are classified in overlapping categories.

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

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 the 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 the 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.