Alienation and the Soviet Economy: The Collapse of the Socialist Era

by Paul Craig Roberts, Aaron Wildavsky (Foreword)

As timely today as it was when first published, this is a valuable interpretation of the former Soviet economy and its collapse.

Genres: History, Politics, Economics

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roberts is a great economist - this is not one of his best books. It attempts to examine why the Soviet economy did not work. Roberts goes through a series of proofs about poly centric economic systems to demonstrate that the basic assumptions of Marxist theory were bound to fail. Well, DUH.

I kept coming back to Hayek’s seminal essay, “the Uses of Knowledge in Society” which postulated that centralized systems are inherently unable to achieve the results that markets do. Of course, markets are influenced by things like regulatory frameworks and tax systems - and at least in theory Marxist systems could include more accommodation for market indicators. But the reality is they don’t

[Aki Ranin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading if you’re really interested in the failings of soviet implementation of central planning. Avoid if not.