Economic Calculation
Private Property or Several Control
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12230381 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andy Denis (0000-0002-5925-203X, City, University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 606-623 |
| Publication date | 2015-10-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0953-8259 • E-ISSN: 1465-3982 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09538259.2015.1083189 |
| OpenAlex | W334373622 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 9 |
As the centenary of the 1917 Russian revolution approaches, it is worth reviewing the past 100 years’ discussion amongst economists on the possibility—or otherwise—of economic planning under socialism. The socialist calculation debate is of fundamental importance, not merely as a specialist application of economic ideas, but as an investigation of the foundations of economic activity. Every economic action is premised upon calculation, every choice depends upon an assessment of the costs and benefits of each alternative between which the agent must choose. The view of that choice and its attendant calculation is constitutive of the schools of thought—Marxian, neoclassical and Austrian—which have contributed to the debate. An understanding of the calculation debate is therefore required to understand how these paradigms stand in relation to each other. This article addresses one aspect of that debate—the claim by Austrian economists that socialism is impossible because the absence of private property in the means of production precludes economic calculation. The article suggests that several control rather than private property is required for economic calculation, and that several control is consistent with public ownership of the means of production. The Austrian argument on this point, therefore, is without force
Action (physics · Argument (complex analysis · Austrian School · Communism · Control (management · Economic system · Economics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Market economy · Means of production · Microeconomics · Neoclassical economics · Planned economy · Point (geometry · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Private property · Production (economics · Property (philosophy · Relation (database · Socialism · Socialist economics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
| Citations per year | 0.44 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |