The Hayek critique brings up an issue that I brought up awhile back
but somehow got turned into a flame about Roemerism.
The issue, restated: capitalism, because it is based on intense
competition, encourages a competitive culture and opportunistic
behavior. Specifically, it encourages "agents" to hog information
keeping it out of the hands of "principals," making the P/A problem
worse. More generally, it encourages the hogging of info.
"Insider" workers won't train the new hires if they're afraid
that they'll be replaced by these new hires or if they see
them as competitors rather than as partners. Etc. (a lot of
this shows up in Albert & Hahnel, who point to the problem
of "snowballing individualism.")
In sum, capitalist competition _makes the information problem
that Hayek points to worse_. A similar problem can arise under
"market socialism" of various sorts (including the so-called
coupon economy of what's his name).
So, how can society be set up to discourage opportunism,
discourage the hogging of socially-beneficial information, etc.?
in pen-l solidarity,
Jim Devine
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
