> I am a Hayekian. Hayek's idea was that markets are
> information systems, not straw-bosses. The point is
> that people cannot know enough if they have to plan
> how many buttons and how much broccoli they will
need
> -- but mnarkets give people who are interested in
> making profits spedcial incentives to find out
without
> central coordination. No planning board can do as
well
> outside certain areas where supply and demand is
> highly predictable.
I'm still a little puzzled why a Hayekian would want to resort to markets given our current state of technology and organization. If all our knowledge, information and experience about products was centralized (as in Wal-Mart's case, which the NYT claims has a mountain of data as large as the combined storage of a large chunk of the internet), and then made fully public and accessible, why would we want to fiddle around with prices? The information could be centralized, decisions and planning not.
Also, William Lazonick's work seems relevant here. If markets are the most effective means for the coordination of economic actors, then how do we explain the incredible level of planning in large corporations?
JL
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