the positive critique

[Brett Knowlton]

>Brad raises an important question, again, by askinga bout positive
alternative. Doug asserts--I won't say defends, since he offers no
argument--the alternative probably preferred by most people on this list,
democratic planning. In a recent post  that was taken up and then dropped I
remarked that Hayek's attack on this alternative has yet to be answered in
a plausible way.

What's wrong with prices as a signalling mechanism for democratically
planned societies to choose between alternatives?  This, as I understand
it, is the crux of Hayek's critique - planned economies don't have price
mechanism to allow them to accurately determine the costs and benefits of
varying proposals.  The Albert/Hahnel model (and possibly others) is able
to generate these kinds of prices based on the production and consumption
plans sent in by each workplace and consumer.

Brett