Michał Kalecki and the Problem of Rational Allocation of Resources in Socialism Cover Image

Michał Kalecki i problem racjonalnej alokacji zasobów w socjalizmie
Michał Kalecki and the Problem of Rational Allocation of Resources in Socialism

Author(s): Damian Winczewski
Subject(s): Economic development, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Uniwersytet Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: central planning; price regulation; investment; allocation of resources

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is the reconstruction of the views of Michael Kalecki and his followers on rational calculation and allocation of resources in a socialist economy, and also to try to compare their statements with the views of both supporters of capitalism, as well as alternative models of socialism. In this matter the piece examines articles of Polish economists on the pattern formation of prices in capitalism and socialism, the role of the working class and the system of incentives and economic governance. In this paper, we have also discussed the views of the authors who, based on the work of Kalecki, took up a controversy with a circulation narrative explaining the failure of socialism. The conclusion that flows from the preceding analysis is as follows: Real capitalism and real socialism struggle with problems of imperfect information, and soft budgets; a particular model of economic management in this regard is not the direct cause of the failure of the socialist project. In addition to the problem of innovation and optimal investment, from the Kaleckian perspective, a fundamental problem of socialism appears to be the appropriate relations of production in the Marxist sense, understood as democratization of the relationship between the working class and the production management layer.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 24
  • Page Range: 196-225
  • Page Count: 30
  • Language: Polish