I was only remarking that in central planning wage rates do not have
to be equal to marginal revenue products in order to achieve static
efficiency. In market socialism, it seems to me they do. And that includes
employee managed market socialism a la Vaneck. I know that wage rates
were not fair in the old SU, and that wage inequalities increased under
Stalin in the 30s -- contrary to Gorbachev's inaccurate characterization of
Stalin as a "leveler."
More to the point, I think wages should be according to what I call effort,
or personal sacrifice in either training for or carrying out one's economic
duties. Things that require more effort, in this sense are working more hours,
working at dangerous tasks, boring tasks, stressful tasks, training for more
hours -- when others get leisure time instead, not when others are working
instead. If we agree that this is a fair system of wages, and I think that's
what 19th century socialist visionaries and 20th century socialist activists
mostly had in mind, then the question is how can we arrange for such a system
of payment without creating allocative and/or motivational inefficiencies.
