Abstract
In the preceding chapter, regulation of basic wages was discussed. However, employees of enterprises also receive bonuses, premiums and rewards from funds outside the wage-bill,1 mainly from the incentive fund. Even if these bonuses2 are not very large—their present range in the Soviet bloc countries is from 5–12 per cent of the enterprise wage-bill including bonus fund3—they must be regulated in order to ensure that their magnitude does not exceed the plan limits and thus contribute to inflationary pressures. They must also be regulated since they serve as the main incentive,4 a function which can be filled only partially by basic salaries (and the same is true of wage rates), which are fixed by the centre and in most countries changed by it at long time intervals. The size of basic salaries is primarily supposed to be a reward for knowledge and experience gained over a long period. It is felt that it would be wrong to change them in accordance with short-term fluctuations in performance. In addition it would be politically difficult to reduce basic salaries (or wage rates or even basic wages) in the case of nonfulfilment of targets.5
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Notes
The Polish reform of 1973 has attempted to make the regulation of basic wages as the main incentive. (See A. Topinski, in Zarys systemu funkcjonowania … 1975, p. 142.
See P. Bánki, Közgazdasági Szemle, no. 3, 1965.
E.g., J. Krizsanits, Munka, no. 2, 1972.
Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, no. 22, 1971 and no. 23, 1972. See also V. Ignatushkin, Finansy SSSR, no. 3, 1973; G. Schroeder, 1973, pp. 31–5, and
V. A. Rzheshevsku̇u̇, Dengi i kredit, no. 10, 1975.
Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, no. 23, 1972, and P. Bunich, Ekonomika i organizaciia promyshlennogo proizvodstva, no. 4, 1975.
V. A. Rzheshevskii, Planovoe khoziaistvo, no. 3, 1973 and Biulletin, no. 4, 1977.
A. Suchá and V. Wosková, Práce a mzda, no. 10, 1978.
See M. Majtan, Finance a úvěr, no. 11, 1973 and
E. Moravec, Práce a mzda, no. 7, 1973.
E. Moravec, Práce a mzda, no. 3, 1974.
Figures on the bonuses as a percentage share of profit in Soviet industry show that there is a small correlation between both. See Iu. Artemov, Voprosy ekonomiki, no. 5, 1975.
Gesetzblatt der DDR, part II, no. 67, 1968, and K. P. Hensel, in Wirtschaftssysteme des Sozialismus im Experiment—Plan oder Markt, 1972, pp. 155–60.
A gazdasági szabályozó …, 1975, pp. 74–82; A. Szávai, Munkaügyi Szemle, no. 12, 1975.
For more about the incentive system see J. Adam, Revue d’études comparative est-ouest, June 1977.
See Iu. Margulis, Finansy, no. 7, 1973.
A. Topiński, in Zarys systemu …, 1975, p. 143.
Iu. Artemov, Voprosy ekonomiku no. 5, 1975.
Iu. Artemov, Voprosy ekonomiki, no. 5, 1975.
In the past there was a ceiling of a four month’s salary; an additional two months’ basic salary was allowed for the introduction of new technology. (See G. Schroeder, 1973, p. 35; Iu. Margulis, Finansy, no. 7, 1973).
E. Moravec, Práce a mzda, no. 12, 1974.
The Czechoslovak government plans for a much higher bonus fund for the period 1976–80. (See Y. Címa, Plánované hospodářství, no. 5, 1976.)
A. Baloušek, Práce a mzda, no. 4–5, 1976.
See Foglalkoztatottság és keresti arányok, 1973, pp. 161–2, 173, 191, and J. Adam, Revue d’études comparatives est-ouest, June 1977.
A. Suchá and V. Wosková maintain (Práce a mzda, no. 10, 1977) that DM900 was also fixed for the period 1976–80.
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© 1979 Jan Adam
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Adam, J. (1979). Regulation of Bonuses. In: Wage Control and Inflation in the Soviet Bloc Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04892-2_4
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