2 B. Socialist economy

Concept:social ownership of the means of production with central planning — production for use, not profit (POTH Unit 5.1's full doctrine; Marx — POTH 3.3). Features: state/collective ownership; central planning (the plan sets targets and prices); equality of distribution (in principle); the state as employer of all; the party-state's direction (in the historic cases); the declared abolition of exploitation. Appraisal:strengths — basic-needs delivery (the Soviet literacy and health records), full-employment policies, mobilised industrialisation, equality gains; weaknesses — the calculation problem (Mises–Hayek: without market prices, planners cannot value resources — shortages and gluts without a signal); the incentive problem; bureaucracy and shortage-economy queues (Kornai); political concentration (POTH 5.1's critique — the party- state).