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Information, Motivation, and the Problem of Rational Economic Calculation in Socialism

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Socialism: Institutional, Philosophical and Economic Issues

Part of the book series: International Studies in Economics and Econometrics ((ISEE,volume 14))

Abstract

The fundamental problem of rational calculation in a socialist economy was stated as early as 1874 by the German economist Albert Schäffle in his The Quintessence of Socialism:

Without the introduction of use value into social accounting, i.e., without analogous imitation of all value-determining processes of the present market, it would be unthinkable that some supreme board of the integrated production system could keep the demand for labor and goods quantitively and in kind in agreement with the stocks of labor and goods; i.e., could maintain the economic equilibrium of labor and use which is nowadays brought about from day to day … under the influence of market prices responding also to changing use values (demands).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Basel, Germany

    Peter Bernholz (professor of economics)

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  1. Peter Bernholz
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Centre for Free Enterprise, Texas A & M University, USA

    Svetozar Pejovich

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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Bernholz, P. (1987). Information, Motivation, and the Problem of Rational Economic Calculation in Socialism. In: Pejovich, S. (eds) Socialism: Institutional, Philosophical and Economic Issues. International Studies in Economics and Econometrics, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3571-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3571-6_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8097-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3571-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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