ABSTRACT
An important aspect of the Marxian theory of economic development and institutional change is an idea that economic efficiency, innovation rate, and ultimately productivity levels are key factors that decide, in the course of history, the outcome of the competition between different forms of organization of economic activity. This idea rests simply on seeing societies as constantly searching for ways of achieving the highest standard of living. Systemic changes, whether evolutionary or revolutionary, are assumed to be an outcome of that search. The theory has been and probably continues to be highly influential in shaping the ideological makeup of the political leaders and their economic policies in the USSR, the People’s Republic of China, and other centrally managed economies (CMEs).
