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[quote user="Hubertus"] Fine by me, even though that's not Mises's argument. Your insight appears to dervive from an assumption of a very - well "specific" - way to structure a socialist entrepreneur's activity. Let me point out my belief that humans - under any system - will try to do things better, to help progress
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[quote user="Hubertus"] Second, and this is key - Mises's argument points out that speculators and investors are ultimately exposed and thus "responsible to the consumers". Note how this closes a circular relationship, and firmly bases economic calculation on utility to the consumers (i.e. everybody including speculators and
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[quote user="Grant"] I'm not really sure exactly what you are referring to here. Market socialism? The director still needs to set prices in that scheme, but you may need to turn to Hayek for his criticism of that system. The director would simply not have the knowledge to set prices correctly, because that knowledge is dispersed throughout
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Greedy capitalists/speculators of course!!!! *ducks* :-p
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[quote user="cookmg"] When we say that the market tends to allocate resources towards their most highly "valued" uses it is the second kind of value we mean. We can't mean the first kind of value because that would imply impermissible inter-personal comparisons of utility. Sound right? [/quote] Yes, that sounds right. Something
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[quote user="cookmg"] Gabriel, I'm glad you're asking these questions as I am new to the topic too. Though some of the replies so far have been helpful, I think you correctly point out that most of them miss the point. Mises was willing to assume for argument's sake that all these other complications were manageable and that socialism
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[quote user="Inquisitor"] The terms taken together are paradoxical. It says nothing of the viability of the institution though - it is certainly possible for it to exist; Mises would argue though that it is not possible for it to calculate efficiently . To answer why that is so I'd need to be versed in Mises's arguments on the matter
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[quote user="Grant"] Yes, and in fact that founds a lot like capitalism under a state. But the problem is, what keeps the director in check? He does not respond to market forces. He has a monopoly on violence, and the market is subservient to him. He has no reason to behave in ways which serve the consumer. [/quote] But remember that the problem
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[quote user="Inquisitor"] Gabriel, a quick point to help you from falling into the same errors in the future: Mises never said market socialism is impossible. I believe he said efficient calculation is. That is quite a different statement. Boettke clarifies this point as well in his reply to Bryan Caplan on Socialist calculation. [/quote]
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[quote user="DBratton"] Consumer preferences consist of infinite little bits of information that cannot possibly be collected all in one place. Your question assumes away this problem but in real life it can't be overlooked. [/quote] From Human Action , "It is important to realize that this problem has nothing at all to do with the