Markets, Planning and Democracy: Essays after the Collapse of Communism

by David L. Prychitko

Overview

The essays contained herein span over a decade and reflect David Prychitko's thinking about the role of the market system, and its relation to planning and democratic processes. The collection consists of previously published and unpublished articles written not only for economists but also for an interdisciplinary audience.

Prychitko extends the Austrian School's criticism of central planning to include the decentralized, self-managed and democratic models of socialism - those that were supposed to distinguish Yugoslav-style socialism from Soviet socialism. He critically evaluates the socialist and market-socialist proposals of contemporary advocates including Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel, Ted Burczak, Branko Horvat, and Joseph Stiglitz. A younger Austrian economist, Prychitko has also emerged as an internal critic within that tradition. He questions the Austrian School's claims that the unhampered market maximizes social welfare, that any actions of the state necessarily reduce welfare, and that anarcho-capitalism is viable and desirable. At the same time, he carefully discusses the viability of worker-managed enterprise from a market-process perspective, and offers a qualified defense.

Scholars, particularly those with an interest in Austrian economic thought, comparative political economy and free market libertarianism will find this collection a valuable resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781840645194
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	07/28/2002
Series:	New Thinking in Political Economy series
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David L. Prychitko, Head, Department of Economics, Northern Michigan University and Faculty Affiliate in the Program on Markets and Institutions, James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy, George Mason University, US

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction: Markets, Planning and Democracy in the Age of Post-Communism Part I: The Possibility of Economic Democracy: Self-Managed Socialism versus the Self-Managed Firm 1. Comparative Economic Systems 2. Marxism and Decentralized Socialism 3. Did Horvat Answer Hayek? The Crisis of Yugoslav Self-Management 4. Perestroika in Yugoslavia: Lessons from Four Decades of Self-Management 5. Marxisms and Market Processes 6. Marx, Postmodernism and Self-Management: Reply to Abell 7. The Critique of Workers’ Self-Management: Austrian Perspectives and Economic Theory 8. Hayekian Socialism: Rethinking Burczak, Ellerman and Kirzner Part II: Capitalism and the Quest for Utopia 9. Formalism in Austrian School Welfare Economics: Another Pretense of Knowledge? 10. Expanding the Anarchist Range: A Critical Reappraisal of Rothbard’s Contribution to the Contemporary Theory of Anarchism 11. The Welfare State: What is Left? 12. Does Market Socialism Have a Future? From Lange and Lerner to Schumpeter and Stiglitz 13. Socialism as Cartesian Legacy: The Radical Element within F.A. Hayek’s The Fatal Conceit 14. The Collapse of Communism – A Decade Later 15. Thoughts on Austrian Economics, ‘Austro-Punkism’, and Libertarianism References Index

Editorial Reviews

'. . . for a reader who is interested in East Europe's socio-political changes the book makes fascinating reading, although it tells very little about the reality of these countries over the past decade. . . Prychitko's essays are actually rather historical: they are a good introduction to the waves of economic thinking that shaped the world in the twentieth century. This historical relevance may actually be the most important aspect of this book.'

Henri Vogt

'David Prychitko's Markets, Planning and Democracy marks a significant step forward in developing Austrian theory. . . I have little to disagree with in this volume, and much to really like.'

Gus diZerega