For citation:
Dyatel, E. P. (2026). From Forms of Appropriation to the Infrastructural Framework: Historical and Logical Reconstruction of Economic Activity. AlterEconomics, 23(3), 574–590. https://doi.org/10.31063/AlterEconomics/2026.23-3.3
Abstract:
The article conceptualizes the infrastructure framework as a basis for the reproduction of an economic system. Unlike structure, understood as the essential relationships among elements identified through research, the framework has a practical orientation. The study examines the spatial and temporal conditions under which the infrastructure of economic activity emerges and functions. The study applies a structural-logical approach that moves from the abstract to the concrete, defining the space-time continuum of the economic system and tracing its patterns and stages of development from the earliest forms of economic activity. It also establishes the technological, institutional, and socioeconomic boundaries of the object and subject of analysis. The proposed framework reflects the historical and logical sequence of economic development, from labor as a defining feature of the social individual, through the development of exchange and appropriation, to the emergence of an infrastructure framework linking different forms of appropriation across space and time. The study is grounded in dialectics and a materialist understanding of history, complemented by verification and falsification through the comparison and reassessment of theoretical conclusions and primary-source evidence. The analysis draws on innovative research in economic theory, economic history, and economic practice. The study aims to demonstrate the interconnection and continuity of what K. Marx termed “practically true categories.” The resulting categorical framework can be tested using data from economic entities at different levels of localization and may help identify ways to strengthen regional economic competitiveness.
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