Science, Science & Marxism

Justin Schwartz jkschw at hotmail.com
Thu Jan 17 07:21:20 PST 2002



>
>I've never read Hayek, but I was under the impression he thought central
>planning a la the Soviet Union wouldn't function at all.
>
>If this is true, how did it manage to continue for 60 years, from the NEP
>to
>perestroika?

You do misunderstand him and ought to read him. He thought that itw ould be grossly indfficient and wasteful, full of bottlenecks, shortages, long lines, bad products, missed targets, low innovation; that it would lead to generalized poverty and resist change in the direction of improvement. He was right, and right for the specific reasons he gave, as every planner or industrial manager in the FSU would acknowledge. Read, e.g., Shmevel & Popov, the Turning Point. indeed, Hayekian ideas drove perestroika itself. jks
>
>Or maybe I misunderstand Hayek...
>
>Chris Doss
>The Russia Journal

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