“In 1940, Hayek (1940 [1972], 198-199) wrote an article that analyzed and criticized Lange’s model in great detail and explained, point by point, which implications of the model were problematic. Lange was deeply impressed by these critiques, and acknowledged that Hayek had succeeded in raising a series of essential errors and problems with the model: «There is no question that you have succeeded in raising essential problems and in showing gaps in the pure static solution given by me. I intend to work in this subject and give an answer to your paper … sometime in the fall.» (Lange, in a letter to Hayek dated August 31, 1940) Such an answer never came.”
Imagine what would have become of declaring who won the socialist calculation debate if this 1940 letter was better known. Hayek never mentioned the letter. The letter from Lange was found in Lange’s complete works published in 1973 in Polish.
I shared a very clever tweet back in 2018 that highlighted the huge gap between “almost capitalism” and “almost socialism.” That column was entitled the “World’s Best Tweet about Socialism and Capitalism.” And capitalism won the comparison (needless to say). Let’s do the same thing today, but we’ll replace socialism with communism. And our “Best […]
Building on my four-part series (here, here, here, and here) explaining the case against socialism and my five-part series (here, here, here, here, and here) on socialism in the modern world, today’s column will look at the economic argument against that statist ideology. Practically speaking, this seems unnecessary. After all, we can simply look at […]
TweetOver at EconLog, Kevin Corcoran has an excellent post refuting a naive-person’s assertion that central planners can acquire all the knowledge they need to successfully ‘plan’ an economy simply by asking people, questionnaire-style, what they want. But there’s an additional point to be made in response to this naive-person’s assertion. The additional point is this:…
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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