On the Political Economy of Market Socialism

James A. Yunker, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois, USA

Contents: Introduction. Varieties of Market Socialism: A survey of market socialist forms; A new perspective on market socialism; Post-Lange market socialism: an evaluation of profit-oriented proposals. Focus on Capital Management and Saving: On the potential efficiency of market socialism; The microeconomic efficiency argument for socialism revisited; The equity-efficiency trade-off under capitalism and market socialism; Capital management under profit-oriented market socialism: an explicit function approach. Focus on Dynamic Performance: A market socialist critique of capitalism’s dynamic performance; Risk-taking as a justification for property income; Ludwig von Mises on the artificial market; Agency issues and managerial incentives: contemporary capitalism versus market socialism. People’s Capitalism, Democracy and Morality: The people’s capitalism thesis: a sceptical evaluation; Would democracy survive under market socialism?; On the morality of capitalism: in light of the market socialist alternative; Index.