Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship

Jesús Huerta de Soto, Professor of Political Economy, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain

'A leading scholar in the tradition of the Austrian School of Economics, Professor Jesús Huerta de Soto presents a powerful analysis of socialism in a book dedicated to Ludwig von Mises, who underlined the theoretical failures of socialism and opened the famous economic calculation debate of the 1920s and 1930s. Then, as now, economic crises were widely attributed to freedom, business and markets. Then, as now, it was necessary to indicate the interventionist origins of trade cycles, the negative effects of economic policies, the crucial positive force of entrepreneurship, and the intellectual errors and terrible practical consequences of the enemies of liberty. Huerta de Soto's is, accordingly, a very timely book.'

• Contents: Foreword by Peter J. Boettke 1. Introduction 2. Entrepreneurship 3. Socialism 4. Ludwig von Mises and the Start of the Debate on Economic Calculation 5. The Unjustified Shift in the Debate Toward Statics: The Arguments of Formal Similarity and the So-called ‘Mathematical Solution’ 6. Oskar Lange and the ‘Competitive Solution’ 7. Final Considerations Bibliography Index