On Wednesday, Elon Musk showed his support for the years-old Austrian school of economics, associated with Ludwig von Mises, saying that prices are an important factor for an economy to function properly.
In a post on X, Musk wrote, "Prices are critical information without an economy cannot function." Debate Over Socialist Planning Resurfaces The remark came after Rothmus, an X account that supports 'rugged individualism' and 'Propertarianism,' posted on social media about von Mises' 1920 paper "Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth," which Hayek read.
In the post, Rothmus said, "Mises showed that socialist central planning isn't merely inefficient, it's impossible." Without private property and genuine market prices, planners have no reliable way to decide on how to allocate limited resources or measure real costs and needs.
Oskar Lange, a leading socialist in the debate, promoted "market socialism" with trial-and-error pricing by a central board.
In the real world, socialist planners in Eastern Europe depended on global capitalist market prices as a guide.
