Liberalism

Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth is an article by economist Ludwig von Mises. His critique of economic calculation in a planned economy triggered the debate on economic calculation that has lasted for decades.

The article was first published in German in 1920 under the title Die Wirtschaftsrechnung im sozialistischen Gemeinwesen and was based on a lecture Mises delivered in 1919 in response to a book by Otto Neurath, who argued for the feasibility of central planning.

Mises argued that prices for capital goods could not be obtained in a socialist economy if the government owned the means of production, since all exchanges would be internal transfers, rather than "objects of exchange," which would put the price mechanism out of order.