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  4. Spring 1990
  5. Socialist Economics: The Disequilibrium School and the Shortage Economy

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Socialist Economics: The Disequilibrium School and the Shortage Economy

  • Jozef M. van Brabant
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 4, no. 2, Spring 1990
(pp. 157–175)
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Abstract

This article focuses on the debate between Richard Portes and Janos Kornai as the respective exponents of two interpretations of economic behavior in centrally planned economies: the disequilibrium school, and the theory of the shortage economy. My objective here is to elucidate for the nonspecialist the core features of the debate between the disequilibrium school and the shortage economy. Toward the end, I describe what might usefully be retained from this debate by economists who do not specialize in the study of centrally planned economies.

Citation

van Brabant, Jozef M. 1990. "Socialist Economics: The Disequilibrium School and the Shortage Economy." Journal of Economic Perspectives 4 (2): 157–175. DOI: 10.1257/jep.4.2.157

JEL Classification

  • E00 Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics: General
  • P20 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: General
  • P30 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: General