The Socialist Calculation Debate
Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance

This Element presents an analysis Socialist Calculation Debate and an analysis of its implications for the 21st century.

Peter Boettke (Author), Rosolino A. Candela (Author), Tegan Lindstrom Truitt (Author)

9781009593663, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 December 2024

94 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm, 0.274 kg

For over a generation, the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe delegitimized the abolition of private property in the means of production and the practice of central planning as an effective way to achieve the ends of socialism. However, the aspiration of achieving the ends of socialism remains to this day. This Element provides a narrative of a century-long debate that was initiated by Ludwig von Mises in 1920. In so doing, it tells the history of the problem of economic calculation in the socialist commonwealth and its continuing relevance for developments in economics, political economy, and social philosophy.

1. Introduction
2. The original debate: from Marx to mises
3. Rebuttals and refinements: Hayek and the market socialists
4. The end of the debate? Lavoie's challenge and the fall of communism
5. Socialism in the 21st century
6. Extending the argument: applications of the theory of economic calculation
7. Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Economics [KC]