Posing the Problem: The Impossibility of Economic Calculation under Socialism

For industry to be operated effectively, it is necessary that those in charge be able to perform “economic calculation.” It does not matter at all, for the purposes of this argument, whether “those in charge” are professional managers, acquisitive capitalists, workers’ councils or other democratically- elected assemblies, or holy men appointed by the gods. The problem of economic calculation which faces them is examined in more detail in some of the following essays, but the general idea can be explained very briefly and simply.

Volume 5, Number 1 (1981)