Pen-l subscribers may be interested in the following, which was
originally posted on the Post-Keynesian Thought network. It
relates to an old debate over pen-l and refers to a book which
may be of interest to many concerning how socialism should be
organized.
I dropped Allin Cottrell's third point, which didn't seem of
interest to pen-l.-- Jim Devine
Allin Cottrell's Original message (abbreviated):
Some thoughts on a few things that have whizzed by
lately:
(1) Doug Henwood cites Nancy Folbre's characterization of
Albert and Hahnel's participatory economics as "one long
student council meeting," and wonders how supporters of
such schemes would reply. I can't speak for A and H, and
am somewhat reluctant to criticize their work when they are
(apparently) not on PKT to make their case, but I will say
that Paul Cockshott and I ("Towards a New Socialism")
envisage democratic decision-making as having a broader,
parametric role in a planned economy, while many of the
details are worked out more or less algorithmically within
those parameters, avoiding participatory overload.
(2) Is there any prospect for linking up the sort of
paradigmatically PK concerns expressed by, eg, Paul
Davidson with the planning proposals that some of us have
been discussing? Keynes thought that the shortcomings of
capitalism were severe enough to require "the more or less
comprehensive socialisation of investment". How seriously
should we take this? I'm not aware that Keynes ever
spelled out what he meant by this, or discussed the sort
of institutions that would be required to undertake this
"socialisation," but on the face of it, it sure sounds
like planning. No, it's not on the US agenda for the near
future, but is it something PKs should discuss?
==========================
Allin Cottrell
Department of Economics
Wake Forest University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(910) 759-5762
==========================
end of copied message.
in pen-l solidarity,
Jim Devine BITNET: jndf@lmuacad. INTERNET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (off); 310/202-6546 (hm); FAX: 310/338-1950
