Austrian School of Economics: Revisionist History and Contemporary Theory

8. The Debate on the Socialist Calculation Debate

06/10/2005 Joseph T. Salerno

The debate still continues. It is all about Mises’ initial article and then book on Socialism in 1922. He demonstrated the necessity of the price system and showed how subjective values were transformed into objective prices which could be used as meaningful cardinal numbers in economic calculation.

One big cartel that owns everything would be just like socialism, because there would be no price signals. Mises calls this the intellectual division of labor. With no market you never have profits or losses. You have no information. The distinctive mark of socialism is the oneness. Capitalism is an entrepreneurial system, not a static system like those just playing market.

Lecture 8 of 10 from Joseph Salerno's Revisionist History and Contemporary Theory.

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member