The Socialist Calculation Debate

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

The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe delegitimized private property and central planning for socialism. However, the aspiration of achieving socialism's ends remains. This Element recounts Ludwig von Mises' century-long debate on economic calculation in the socialist commonwealth.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.