Book Review: Capitalism, Socialism and Property Rights: Why Market Socialism Cannot Substitute the Market

Mateusz Machaj’s book Capitalism, Socialism and Property Rights is a straightforward and useful contribution to our understanding of the problems of socialism. Translated from the original Polish by Kacper Potocki, the book flowed smoothly. In it, Machaj makes three important points. The first centers on the discussion on how the socialist economists, who thought that a market could be mimicked or limited to only consumer goods, were wrong. The second is that the neoclassical economists, who used the model of perfect competition and thought solving the right set of equations could produce equilibrium, were also wrong. And the third, and most important, point is Machaj’s claim that Mises’s approach was too narrowly focused on economics and not broad enough for the legal and ethical implications of property rights. By broadening the perspective beyond the economic and into the legal and moral realms, one sets the foundations for policies of nations transitioning away from socialism in any of its forms.