Hi, I found something rather interesting today. Thought I could search for answers here at the Austrian forum. Here is the piece: "The Austrians entered the fray under with a cannonade by Ludwig von Mises . In a famous 1920 article “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”, Mises went on…

The section further down basically gives you the idea: Basically, Lange (probably the most well known opponent) just assumed the answer. The Walrasian equations are the system of all supply and demand equations that must be solved – you can posit an “auctioneer” that simply solves these equations…

Rooster, thanks for the quick reply. But I am a very slow learner, so please take some patience to answer some silly questions of mine. Here goes the first: Does being an auctioneer mean setting prices on a trial and error basis, so that the market is cleared at the equilibrium price?

Nigraham, thanks(you were quick too)! I am into reading that piece by Hoppe. Get back to you soon!

Characteristic overstatement by Hoppe. The idea that you can separate knowledge and calculation issues, and act as if Hayek did not appreciate the role of private property, is, to use Hoppe’s description of Hayek’s arguments, “fallacious,” “absurd,” and “nonsense.”

That’s sort of the idea, it’s really a theoretical concept that the socialists have tried to argue is actually practical. As I understand, Hayek essentially argued that there is not a system of equations out there to be solved, even if that was possible. You can’t just tell managers to “minimize c…

perhaps you are ‘overstating’ yourself.

Let me try putting some more of my thoughts in. As I understand the calculation problem it is one of the lack of a proper pricing mechanism for capital resources because of the lack of private ownership of capital resources under a centrally planned economy. Unlike a private competitive regime, wher…

“Let me take an example to illustrate the issue: Assume there are only two consumer goods, namely pasta and cakes. The capital good required to make them is flour. Suppose there is a drastic change in the tastes of the consumers and they decide not to buy cakes, and opt only for pastas, the price of…

Socialist calculation: Was Mises refuted?

Economics Economics Questions

nirgrahamUK August 1, 2009, 10:59am 3

also Hayek needn’t have worked so hard. Mises had already given everything that was needed, even if socialists (and perhaps Hayek a little) didnt grasp that.

further links if you are interested can be found here .

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Socialist calculation: Was Mises refuted?

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