Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth

Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth este un articol scris de economistul Ludwig von Mises. Acesta abordează problema calculului economic^⁠(d) într-o economie planificată, iar criticismul său a declanșat o dezbatere despre calculul economic în socialism^⁠(d).^[1]^[2]

Articolul a fost publicat pentru prima dată în 1920 în limba germană sub titlul Die Wirtschaftsrechnung im sozialistischen Gemeinwesen^[3] și are la bază o prelegere susținută de Mises în 1919. Aceasta din urmă critica fezabilitatea planificării economice susținute de economistul Otto Neurath^⁠(d).^[3] Doi ani mai târziu, eseul a fost încorporat în cartea Socialismul: O analiză economică și sociologică^⁠(d).

Rezumat

Pentru Mises, calculul economic este posibil doar dacă există următoarele condiții:

Proprietate privată^[4]^[5]^[6]
Schimb liber de bunuri și servicii^[7]^[6]
Un mijloc de schimb (i.e. bani)^[8]^[6]

Totuși, calculul economic este posibil în lipsa condițiile de mai sus doar în cazul unei administrării unei gospodării^⁠(d) (i.e. o singură persoană supervizează managementul economic, există uz limitat de capital, diviziunea muncii este rudimentară).^[9] O analiză cost-beneficiu^⁠(d) este realizabilă la scară personală, decizia de a alege între o anumită cantitate de vin și o anumită cantitate de ulei nefiind dificilă.

Cu toate acestea, deoarece utilitatea marginală nu este omogenă și universală, oamenii vor avea preferințe diferite. Un abstinent^⁠(d) poate prefera uleiul în locul vinului, în timp ce un alcoolic poate prefera vinul. Astfel, planificatorul^⁠(d) va avea dificultăți în distribuirea resurselor din moment ce în lipsa unei piețe, prețurile nu pot fi stabilite, acestea reflectând cererea și oferta de bunuri, forță de muncă și resurse. Achiziționarea și vânzarea de bunuri de larg consum în cadrul unui stat socialist reprezintă un simplu transfer intern de bunuri și nu „obiectele de schimb”, fapt care distruge mecanismul prețurilor^⁠(d).^[10]

Mises a considerat că putem realiza calculul economic doar cu ajutorul informațiilor furnizate de prețurile pieței. Metodele birocratice de alocare a resurselor, planificate la nivel central, sunt în mod inerent iraționale și nu alocă resursele în cel mai eficient mod. Economiile planificate pot totuși supraviețui dacă observă și copiază economiile capitaliste; dacă întreaga lume, nu doar țări izolate, ar fi fost socialiste, structura capitalului global s-ar fi prăbușit de mult, iar umanitatea ar fi fost catapultată în primitivism.^[11]

Argumentul lui Mises

Socialism desființează proprietatea privată în rândul resurselor naturale și a bunurilor de capital.
Din moment ce statul socialist este singurul proprietar al factorilor materiali de producție, atunci nu mai avem economie de piață.
Dacă nu există economie de piață, atunci nu există prețuri.
Prin urmare, în socialism, statul nu poate calcula costurile de producție pentru bunurile pe care le produce.
Fără posibilitatea de a calcula profiturile și pierderile, planificatorii nu pot stabili cel mai avantajos mod de alocare a resurselor; prin urmare, economia socialistă este imposibilă.^[6]

Note

^ Hacohen, Malachi Haim (2002). Karl Popper – The Formative Years, 1902-1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna (ed. reprint). Cambridge University Press. p. 477. ISBN 978-0-521-89055-7.
^ „Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”. Mises Institute. Accesat în 27 aprilie 2010.
^ ^a ^b Huerta de Soto, Jesús (2010). Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-1-84980-065-5.
^ Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 26. Exchange relations between production goods can only be established on the basis of private ownership of the means of production.
^ „Why a Socialist Economy is "Impossible" - Joseph T. Salerno”. mises.org. Accesat în 8 februarie 2023. Once private property in the nonhuman means of production is abolished, however, as it is under socialism, the appraisement process must grind to a halt, leaving only the increasingly irrelevant memory of the market’s fi nal price structure.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d „Joseph T. Salerno - Calculation and Socialism”. misesmedia pe Youtube.com. Accesat în 8 februarie 2023.
^ Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. There are two conditions governing the possibility of calculating value in terms of money. Firstly, not only must goods of a lower, but also those of a higher order, come within the ambit of exchange, if they are to be included. If they do not do so, exchange relationships would not arise.
^ Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 15. The second condition is that there exists in fact a universally employed medium of exchange—namely, money—which plays the same part as a medium in the exchange of production goods also. If this were not the case, it would not be possible to reduce all exchange-relationships to a common denominator.
^ Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 15-16. Only under simple conditions can economics dispense with monetary calculation. Within the narrow confines of household economy, for instance, where the father can supervise the entire economic management, it is possible to determine the signifi cance of changes in the processes of production, without such aids to the mind, and yet with more or less of accuracy. In such a case the process develops under a relatively limited use of capital. Few of the capitalistic roundabout processes of production are here introduced: what is manufactured is, as a rule, consumption goods or at least such goods of a higher order as stand very near to consumption-goods. The division of labor is in its rudimentary stages: one and the same laborer controls the labor of what is in effect, a complete process of production of goods ready for consumption, from beginning to end.
^ Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 25. Where there is no free market, there is no pricing mechanism; without a pricing mechanism, there is no economic calculation.
^ Joseph T. Salerno. „Why a Socialist Economy is "Impossible"”. mises.org. Accesat în 9 februarie 2023. One of the most important consequences of the fact that centrally planned economies exist within a world market economy is that the planners can observe and crudely copy capitalist economies in deciding which technical processes can coexist in a reasonably coherent capital structure. Had the entire world, rather than isolated nations, existed under central planning for the last half century, the global capital structure would long since have crumbled irretrievably to dust and humanity been catapulted back to autarkic primitivism.

Legături externe

Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth în HTML Arhivat în 17 noiembrie 2014, la Wayback Machine. și PDF (ed. 1990)

[1] Hacohen, Malachi Haim (2002). Karl Popper – The Formative Years, 1902-1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna (ed. reprint). Cambridge University Press. p. 477. ISBN 978-0-521-89055-7.

[:02-2] „Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”. Mises Institute. Accesat în 27 aprilie 2010.

[Huerta_de_Soto-3] Huerta de Soto, Jesús (2010). Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 103–104. ISBN 978-1-84980-065-5.

[4] Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 26. Exchange relations between production goods can only be established on the basis of private ownership of the means of production.

[5] „Why a Socialist Economy is "Impossible" - Joseph T. Salerno”. mises.org. Accesat în 8 februarie 2023. Once private property in the nonhuman means of production is abolished, however, as it is under socialism, the appraisement process must grind to a halt, leaving only the increasingly irrelevant memory of the market’s fi nal price structure.

[:0-6] „Joseph T. Salerno - Calculation and Socialism”. misesmedia pe Youtube.com. Accesat în 8 februarie 2023.

[7] Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. There are two conditions governing the possibility of calculating value in terms of money. Firstly, not only must goods of a lower, but also those of a higher order, come within the ambit of exchange, if they are to be included. If they do not do so, exchange relationships would not arise.

[8] Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 15. The second condition is that there exists in fact a universally employed medium of exchange—namely, money—which plays the same part as a medium in the exchange of production goods also. If this were not the case, it would not be possible to reduce all exchange-relationships to a common denominator.

[9] Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 15-16. Only under simple conditions can economics dispense with monetary calculation. Within the narrow confines of household economy, for instance, where the father can supervise the entire economic management, it is possible to determine the signifi cance of changes in the processes of production, without such aids to the mind, and yet with more or less of accuracy. In such a case the process develops under a relatively limited use of capital. Few of the capitalistic roundabout processes of production are here introduced: what is manufactured is, as a rule, consumption goods or at least such goods of a higher order as stand very near to consumption-goods. The division of labor is in its rudimentary stages: one and the same laborer controls the labor of what is in effect, a complete process of production of goods ready for consumption, from beginning to end.

[10] Mises, Ludwig von (2012). Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Ludwig von Mises Institute. p. 25. Where there is no free market, there is no pricing mechanism; without a pricing mechanism, there is no economic calculation.

[11] Joseph T. Salerno. „Why a Socialist Economy is "Impossible"”. mises.org. Accesat în 9 februarie 2023. One of the most important consequences of the fact that centrally planned economies exist within a world market economy is that the planners can observe and crudely copy capitalist economies in deciding which technical processes can coexist in a reasonably coherent capital structure. Had the entire world, rather than isolated nations, existed under central planning for the last half century, the global capital structure would long since have crumbled irretrievably to dust and humanity been catapulted back to autarkic primitivism.

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