The mess that is the post-Soviet Russia knocked a lot of libertarian naivete out of me.
Still, it was hardly a free market society.
I brought up the calculation problem, not as an explanation for the problems of the Soviet Union, but as a reason for thinking that even the best computerized central planning wasn't going to be all that efficient.
That being said, who's managed to make centralized planning work on a large scale?
In re military black markets-- do you have any information on their prevalence over time? I used to know someone who worked on the computerized supply logistics for the US military and who said that things had gotten a lot more accurate. And then his department was gutted under GWB, and I have no idea whether logistics have deteriorated, or whether there's been an increase of military black markets.
no subject
Still, it was hardly a free market society.
I brought up the calculation problem, not as an explanation for the problems of the Soviet Union, but as a reason for thinking that even the best computerized central planning wasn't going to be all that efficient.
That being said, who's managed to make centralized planning work on a large scale?
In re military black markets-- do you have any information on their prevalence over time? I used to know someone who worked on the computerized supply logistics for the US military and who said that things had gotten a lot more accurate. And then his department was gutted under GWB, and I have no idea whether logistics have deteriorated, or whether there's been an increase of military black markets.