O desenvolvimento do socialismo de mercado

Abstract

The paper describes and analyses the debate among neoclassical economists that took place in the third decade of 20th. century regarding the possibility of central planning. We trace the development of the “market socialism” models – attempts to use neoclassical equilibrium theory to create allocative mechanisms that could simulate actual markets. We defend the methodological thesis that such attempts failed because its supporters disregarded asymmetries between explanation and prediction existing in economic theory: in every step in the development of market socialism, elements of actual markets that were neglected in theoretic simplifications prevented the model to work properly, inviting further modifications that reintroduced market elements.