Uncategorised Hits: 21

DISCUSSION FORUM

TITLE

Increasing Labour Productivity or a New Wave of Optimization in the Cultural Sphere?
Valentina Yu. Muzychuk

Размер файла000
 Размер файла  2.828 MB Размер файла Full text

INDEX

RAR (Research Article Report)

JEL Z11, J24

https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2025_21_4_1_502_517

AUTHOR

Valentina Yu. Muzychuk

Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9016-1531

SPIN-code:  4161-3862

Scopus Author ID: 57208688015

FOR CITATION

Valentina Yu. Muzychuk. Increasing Labour Productivity or a New Wave of Optimization in the Cultural Sphere? Uroven' Zhizni Naseleniya Regionov Rossii=Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia. 2025;21(4): 502-517. https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2025_21_4_1_502_517 (In Russ.)

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the correctness of applying the labour productivity concept in social sector in general, and special in the cultural sector, as accepted in the national project «Efficient and Competitive Economy» (federal project «Labor Productivity») for 2025-2030. The article analyses the challenges associated with applying the labour productivity indicator "by output" to the cultural sector, particularly through the index defined in the national project as "increase in the number of visits per employee" for cultural institutions. The incorrect nature of this approach is revealed both through statistical data calculated for specific types of cultural activity (theatres, museums, public libraries, concert organizations), and through the inaccurate calculation methodology contained in ministry documents. Applying the concept of labour productivity, appropriate for industrial production and the commercial service sector, to social sector, particularly the cultural sector, distorts the non-commercial nature of cultural activity and underestimates the social significance of cultural goods. Increased labour productivity in cultural institutions is planned to be achieved through lean production concept, originally developed to reduce costs in mass-production enterprises. This also demonstrates the inadequacy of a unified approach to assessing performance in manufacturing production and socially significant sectors. A detailed examination of the federal project's methodology reveals a new wave of optimization in the cultural sector, where rhetoric about the need to increase labour productivity conceals another one reduction in the network and number of cultural employees, as well as the deprivation of cultural institutions' financial and economic independence.

Keywords

labour productivity, cultural sphere, optimization of the cultural sphere, cultural activities, employment in the cultural sphere, national project, lean production in the cultural sphere

AUTHOR BIOGRAFY

Valentina Yu. Muzychuk

Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Deputy Director for Research at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences

References

  1. Muzychuk V.Yu. Employment and Labour Payment in the Cultural Sector: Outcomes of the Budget Reform and the May Decrees. Uroven' zhizni naseleniya regionov Rossii=Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia. 2023;19(4):501–514. https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2023_19_4_3_501_514 (In Russ.)
  2. Muzychuk V.Yu. Kul'tura v Logike Rynka: Fakty VS Mify. Saint Petersburg: Publishing House Alethea; 2025. 424 p. ISBN 978-5-00165-931-0 (In Russ.)
  3. Muzychuk V.Yu. Government Failures in the Cultural Sector. Working paper. Moscow: Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2019. 58 р. (In Russ.)
  4. Womack J.P. Jones D.T. Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation. Moscow: Publishing House Alpina Business Books; 2005. 473 p. ISBN 5-9614-0164-2 
  5. Musgrave R.A. The Theory of Public Finance: A Study in Public Economy. New York: Publishing House McGraw Hill; 1959. 628 p.
  6. Dadamyan G.G. Skol'ko Stoit Iskusstvo? In: Dadamyan G.G. Novyi Povorot, ili Kul'tura Moego Pokoleniya. Saint Petersburg: Baltic Seasons; 2010. 304 p. ISBN 978-5-903368-53-2(In Russ.)
  7. Lavrov A.M., Yastrebova O.K. (eds.), Biryukov A.G., et al. Reforma Uchrezhdenii Byudzhetnoi Sfery: Predvaritel'nye Itogi i Novye Vyzovy. Moscow: Publishing House of the Higher School of Economics; 2017. 99 p. ISBN 978-5-7598-1594-5 (In Russ.)
  8. Baumol W., Bowen W. Performing Arts: the Economic Dilemma. A Study of Problems Common to Theater, Opera, Music and Dance. New York: the Twentieth Century Fund; 1966. 582 p.
  9. de Ferranti, Baumol W.J., Malach M., et. al. The Cost Disease: Why Computers Get Cheaper and Health Care Doesn't. New Haven; London: Publishing House of the Yale University Press; 2012. 238 p. ISBN 9780300188486 https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300188486
  10. Chang H.-J. Economics: the User's Guide. from English by E. Ivchenko. 8th ed., suppl. Moscow: Publishing House Mann, Ivanov and Ferber; 2021. 304 p. ISBN 978-5-00169-452-6
  11. Khromov P.A. Proizvoditel'nost' Truda v Narodnom Khozyaistve. Moscow: Publishing House Mysl'; 227 p. (In Russ.)
  12. Khromov P.A. Proizvoditel'nost' Truda (Teoriya, Metodologiya, Dinamika). Moscow: Publishing House Nauka; 240 p. (In Russ.)
  13. Gavrilov R.V. Proizvoditel'nost' Truda: Pokazateli Planirovaniya i Metody Izmereniya. Moscow: Publishing House Ehkonomika; 120 p. (In Russ.)
  14. Strumilin S.G. Problemy Ehkonomiki Truda. Moscow: Publishing House Nauka; 1982. 471 p. (In Russ.)
  15. Germanova O.E. Proizvoditel'nost': Ehkonomicheskoe Soderzhanie i Problemy Izmereniya. Moscow: Publishing House Nauka; 1996. 188 p. (In Russ.)
  16. Novikov V.N. Sovershenstvovanie Ehkonomicheskogo Mekhanizma v Neproizvodstvennoi Sfere (Voprosy Teorii i Praktiki). Moscow: Publishing House Kiev; 1986. 193 p. (In Russ.)
  17. Yakobson L.I. Ehffektivnost' i Kachestvo Raboty v Neproizvodstvennoi Sfery. Moscow: Publishing House Ehkonomika; 136 p. (In Russ.)
  18. Zhiltsova E.N. (ed.) Ehkonomika, Organizatsiya i Planirovanie Neproizvodstvennoi Sfery. Moscow: Publishing House Moscow University; 206 p. (In Russ.)
  19. Rutgaizer V.M. Resursy Razvitiya Neproizvodstvennoi Sfery. Moscow: Publishing House Mysl'; 1975. 230 p. (In Russ.)
  20. Ver Eecke W. The Concept of a Merit Good the Ethical Dimension in Economic Theory and the History of Economic thought or the Transformation of Economics into Socio-Economics. Journal of Socio-Economics. 1998; 27(1):133-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-5357(99)80081-X
  21. Desmarais-Tremblay M. Musgrave and the Idea of Community. In: Backhouse R., Baujard A., Nishizawa T. (eds.) Welfare Theory, Public Action and Ethical. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2021. P. 232-255. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108882507.011