Was The Soviet Union A Resource Based Economy?

Economics Political Theory
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1

I am currently in a debate with a member of the Zeitgiest movement (pretty stubborn people with little knowledge or care about economics) and he tells me that the Soviet Union was not an exmple of an RBE. Was it an RBE? If so, why?

Oh and feel free to come help me debate against these guys. It is kinda hard when I’m on my own.

Thanks,

  • Keith Siopes
2

I’ll help debate.

3

Thank you, my friend. Nice rebuttle there!

4

I thought it was obviously a money economy…

5

It appears that currency did exist, but it was a planned economy in which economic decisions regarding recource allocation were determined by a central planning board rather than the monetary system.

6

also, since you are debating with the zeitgeist movement, this should be helpful:

7

Yes that’s true. But I’d say that the money was an instrument of executing those plans, and of smoothing matters of consumption.

8

Much appreciated.

9

A common debate tactic of the Zeitgeisters is to ignore the calculation problem and focus soley on how good their ideas sound. Don’t allow yourself to be fooled by this sleight-of-hand; none of their ideas will ever materialize without market prices. Stick with calculation.

Zeitgeisters look around at society as it currently is and think that they can run it as if they were simply reaching over and grabbing a steering wheel. They’re mistaken.

Zeitgeisters, like many wannabe central-planners before, haven’t learned, or they simply cannot give up the urge to tell others how to live.

10

You are absolutely right, my friend.

11

@eliotn, Your rebbutles are spot on. I gotta stop letting them get under my skin so much.

12

The Soviet Union was emphatically not a resource-based economy. There was something in the way of resource-based planning, also known as the “method of material balances”, but it played a small role in the overall planned economy. Prices and wages, on the other hand, played a major role. Furthermore, every economic interaction (at least in theory) was accounted for by a system known as “control by the ruble”. See this for more: http://faculty.vassar.edu/kennett/Lieberman.htm