Without economic calculation there can be no economy. Hence, in a socialist state wherein the pursuit of economic calculation is impossible, there can be — in our sense of the term — no economy whatsoever. In trivial and secondary matters rational conduct might still be possible, but in general it would be impossible to speak of rational production any more. There would be no means of determining what was rational, and hence it is obvious that production could never be directed by economic considerations.
Ludwig von Mises, “Die Wirtschaftsrechnung im sozialistischen Gemeinwesen,” Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, volume 47, issue 1, pp. 86 – 121, translated into English by S. Adler as “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth,” for F.A. Hayek, editor, Collectivist Economic Planning (1935).
Categories
Ludwig von Mises
