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University of Massachusetts Amherst
Socialism; capitalism; market economy; Mises; China; comparative economic systems
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The (Im-)Possibility Of Rational Socialism: Mises In China’S Market Reform Debate, Isabella M. Weber
The (Im-)Possibility Of Rational Socialism: Mises In China’S Market Reform Debate, Isabella M. Weber
Economics Department Working Paper Series
This paper investigates the long first decade of reform in China (1978-1992) to show that Mises, in particular his initiating contribution to the Socialist Calculation Debate, became relevant to the reconfiguration of China’s political economy when the reformers gave up on the late Maoist primacy of continuous revolution and adhered instead to an imperative of development and catching up. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao had rejected the notions of efficiency and rational economic management. In the late 1970s, the reformers under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership elevated these notions to highest principle. As a result, Mises’ critique that socialism could not achieve …