Calculation and Coordination Essays on Socialism and Transitional Political Economy

9780415238137

0415238137

Calculation and Coordination explores the founding, failure and attempts to reform and transform socialism in the twentieth century, with a focus on the Soviet experience. It combines the strengths of the Austrian market process tradition with the political economy of public choice to provide an analytical framework for theoretical and historical examination of socialist practice and post-socialist political economy. Peter J. Boettke places particular emphasis on the difficulties of economic calculation in the absence of secure private property rights and the importance of establishing a credible commitment to limited government for smoothing the path from Soviet socialism to a liberal political and economic order in Post-Soviet Russia. The volume features essays on: * The theoretical debate over socialism and in particular the contributions of Mises and Hayek on the matter * The origins of socialism in Russia * The institutionalist maturation of socialist practice and the de facto organising principles of the mature Soviet-type economy * The collapse and failure to successfully reform the Soviet system. This collection will prove to be of great interest to academics and students in the fields of economics, comparative politics and development studies.