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This was a really interesting book that discusses how much planning and cooperation goes into the operations of mega-corporations like Walmart & Amazon. It shows that “ruthless market competition” is far less relevant in our current corporate capitalist system than we’ve been led to believe. It discusses the dichotomy of planned economies vs anarchic markets and the viability of leveraging modern computing for planning.
It takes a critical, rational look at the Soviet Union’s system and gleans valuable insight from what they accomplished and where they erred.
It also discusses something I didn’t know anything about before: Chile’s “Project Cybersyn”, a precursor to the internet tasked with economic planning. “…management cybernetics could serve Allende’s vision of an anti-bureaucratic democratic socialism in which workers participated in management and that would defend individual civil liberties.” That was a great success until the US-backed fascist coup in 1973, which resulted in the dismantling of “Project Cybersyn”. I’ve now renamed my router to “Cybersyn” in solidarity.
This book says what I’ve been saying for years now: Capitalism cannot fix the climate crisis. Caputalism caused the climate crisis. The profit motive and endless growth caused climate change. No amount of regressive Pigovian flat taxes on carbon will solve this crisis. “The market’s profit motive—not growth or industrial civilization, as some environmentalists have argued—caused our climate calamity and the larger bio-crisis. The market is amoral, not immoral. It is directionless, with its own internal logic that is independent of human command.”
Massive economic planning already exists in various siloed systems, but with tyrannical capitalists as the decision makers. The goal is to democratize the process and prioritize humanity instead of the profit motive.
It pairs well with "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths " by Mariana mazzucato (2013), which shows that innovation is far more prevalent in state-backed research, not profit-based enterprises. I highly recommend that book. The concept of anarchist markets is covered deeper in "Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty" Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson (2011) , I mildly recommend this book.
Great book. Highly recommended
It takes a critical, rational look at the Soviet Union’s system and gleans valuable insight from what they accomplished and where they erred.
It also discusses something I didn’t know anything about before: Chile’s “Project Cybersyn”, a precursor to the internet tasked with economic planning. “…management cybernetics could serve Allende’s vision of an anti-bureaucratic democratic socialism in which workers participated in management and that would defend individual civil liberties.” That was a great success until the US-backed fascist coup in 1973, which resulted in the dismantling of “Project Cybersyn”. I’ve now renamed my router to “Cybersyn” in solidarity.
This book says what I’ve been saying for years now: Capitalism cannot fix the climate crisis. Caputalism caused the climate crisis. The profit motive and endless growth caused climate change. No amount of regressive Pigovian flat taxes on carbon will solve this crisis. “The market’s profit motive—not growth or industrial civilization, as some environmentalists have argued—caused our climate calamity and the larger bio-crisis. The market is amoral, not immoral. It is directionless, with its own internal logic that is independent of human command.”
Massive economic planning already exists in various siloed systems, but with tyrannical capitalists as the decision makers. The goal is to democratize the process and prioritize humanity instead of the profit motive.
It pairs well with "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths " by Mariana mazzucato (2013), which shows that innovation is far more prevalent in state-backed research, not profit-based enterprises. I highly recommend that book. The concept of anarchist markets is covered deeper in "Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty" Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson (2011) , I mildly recommend this book.
Great book. Highly recommended
This was really good, not where I expected the message to go.
Had a bit of a hard time to get through it, but very interesting in the end. It gives some sort of hope and a vision, in a complex world where it's often overwhelming to be a socialist.
It did feel a bit all over the place sometimes, but I think it's more of a thinkpiece to spur discussion, and a great way to learn a bit more about the history and thoughts behind planned economies.
It did feel a bit all over the place sometimes, but I think it's more of a thinkpiece to spur discussion, and a great way to learn a bit more about the history and thoughts behind planned economies.
"In truth, Amazon specializes in highly managed chaos."
This is an excellent read for anyone who wishes to understand the importance of planned economies; while it may seem unintuitive at first, corporations are essentially miniature internal economies within larger national (and sometimes multinational) economies. Rozworski and Philips skillfully weave a narrative focused on the theory of neoclassical economics, the fallacy of "free markets" (no such thing has ever existed), examples of successful planned economies (ranging from Walmart to Amazon to Toyota) and unsuccessful ones (Sears, which fell prey to a Randian management consultant, and is now in the process of shuttering its doors). Drawing on a blend of history, operations research, algorithmic efficiency( and no small amount of humor!), the authors make the case for planned and socialized economies of scale and how these institutions can ultimately create efficient production and supply chains that still account for the remarkable complexity of consumer tastes (begone, cliched bread lines and overly troped images of drab Soviet department stores). More importantly, these systems are imbued with democratic, worker-owned spirit. and will thus maintain labor's dignity. Big data (sigh) and collective intelligence, tools that weren't available to planned economies earlier in the 20th century will play a huge role in this development.
This book is unabashedly left-wing and draws heavily on the Marxist framework of history and economics, and this is what I like. I studied operations research in graduate school, and it's great to see a book that argues for the transformation of complex corporate supply chains into socialized instruments that work for people, not profit.
P.S. - This book was enjoyable (and short) enough that I binged it in one day.
This is an excellent read for anyone who wishes to understand the importance of planned economies; while it may seem unintuitive at first, corporations are essentially miniature internal economies within larger national (and sometimes multinational) economies. Rozworski and Philips skillfully weave a narrative focused on the theory of neoclassical economics, the fallacy of "free markets" (no such thing has ever existed), examples of successful planned economies (ranging from Walmart to Amazon to Toyota) and unsuccessful ones (Sears, which fell prey to a Randian management consultant, and is now in the process of shuttering its doors). Drawing on a blend of history, operations research, algorithmic efficiency( and no small amount of humor!), the authors make the case for planned and socialized economies of scale and how these institutions can ultimately create efficient production and supply chains that still account for the remarkable complexity of consumer tastes (begone, cliched bread lines and overly troped images of drab Soviet department stores). More importantly, these systems are imbued with democratic, worker-owned spirit. and will thus maintain labor's dignity. Big data (sigh) and collective intelligence, tools that weren't available to planned economies earlier in the 20th century will play a huge role in this development.
This book is unabashedly left-wing and draws heavily on the Marxist framework of history and economics, and this is what I like. I studied operations research in graduate school, and it's great to see a book that argues for the transformation of complex corporate supply chains into socialized instruments that work for people, not profit.
P.S. - This book was enjoyable (and short) enough that I binged it in one day.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I am glad I read this! When my book club started this, we were coming off The Jakarta Method, and this was not quite up the same writing standard. I was frustrated with how some of the points were presented early on, but it really won me over as the book went on. I do think that they should have flipped their chapter order to have the historical chapters at the beginning and the chapters about the different multinational corporations using planning at the end, but I still enjoyed it.
The main thing I took away is that "nationalization is not enough" and we must make industries truly democratic in addition to being publicly owned. I recommend this book for anyone who is newer to the planning debate on the Left.
The main thing I took away is that "nationalization is not enough" and we must make industries truly democratic in addition to being publicly owned. I recommend this book for anyone who is newer to the planning debate on the Left.
Not sure how to rate this book. The stuff I understand I agree with and feel inspired by. I guess I wish I knew how to take action more and how to implant these kinds of ideas in my conservative friends and family’s heads.
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
I really loved the argument of this book - central planning is already in place and successful, but it exists to serve capitalistic ends using capitalistic means of production, rather than meeting the needs of humanity. Really well argued and very clear and accessible writing without a bunch of the jargon in many academic-y texts. Some of the examples were a little more detailed than I think were necessary to serve the author’s point, but it was only a small issue in the overall book.
challenging
inspiring
medium-paced
Read this in early and late 2020, on my second and third accounts and once before that. The socialist calculation debate of the 1920s gave free-market people their strongest argument for laissez-faire Capitalism with little or no state intervention in the economy. Namely, the coordination of products of goods and services by a central administrator is unworkable as the argument goes. Too many inputs and outputs to keep track of and no price-information feedback to give information on economic preferences a committee will wind up running stagnant and unsatisfactory economies and wind up reaching for authoritarian measures to keep a lid on discontent. It is the right's premier argument against socialism and planning in general. Looks killer on paper. There is the ugly empirical data of the real economy which tells a different story, Behemoths like Walmart centrally planned on a scale as large as any Soviet Satellite country should have their businesses eaten for lunch by the competition. This is what economists might call a paradox. The clue is Operations research. Corporations use techniques and mid-level management logistic techniques developed around WWII to run huge operations and coordinate production of distribution of myriad products and services over worldwide distribution outlets. Businesses are not tiny islands in a free-market sea as the capitalist story is told but continent-spanning top-down regimes separated each other by small free-market lakes to trade. people who actually work these systems operationally know this is true whatever Hayekian shibboleths they utter in the name of the "free market". Since "really existing" capitalism is run by huge-sized megastructures of command economy tyrannies with tenuous free-market links. Why not democratize the power and have these megastructures run democratically in the interest of those who work at them (aka Socialism, social democracy, etc. I am flexible). Anyway, in the least, it points to a failure of a Capitalist ideologue's final redoubt from having to build a better world.
Copy of Original review
Makes Some points that Galbraith made in the 1950s (see "New Industrial State") in the post-WWII era that industrial economic planning is not only possible but more crucially part of the standard operating procedure in the rich countries. It is just that Americans, in particular, have been indoctrinated in free-market rugged individualist fantasies of the Austrian School from the 1920s socialist calculation debate. It keeps the average person's eye off the ball (the fact that our economies are rife with industrial planning) and that real democracy has choices of how to make their economies work for people but unfortunately, they are run largely as an ever-narrowing capitalist oligarchy that is as centralized as anything in the fevered nightmares of anticommunist firebrands. Wake up you've been sold a bill of goods.
Update June 11, 2022, The authors have referenced a large body of research outside the usual socialist sources including operations research and logistics, and cybernetics. This has been the first socialist book that referenced Cantor's transfinite. We think of the Soviets as backward but a lot of operations research that runs our current economies and states was the work of Soviet economists some things like Linear Programming and the simplex model were inspired by works of a planned economy that can both work in large capitalist firms of planned democratic socialist economies. Also talks about Allende's experiment in Chile to use cybernetics as the operating system of a democratic socialist economy in the seventies. Many unknown corners of socialism's promise to be found in this book.
Galbraiths Economic work (more qualitative) New Industrial state https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/244904.The_New_Industrial_State?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fQEcpsYBCt&rank=1
More technical work on Operations Research but if you want to get into the details of how logistics happen a book like this can help in building a social democratic utopia that actually works there are loads of these books out there find one compatible with your reading style. I picked this one on a wild guess.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1441120.Introduction_to_Operations_Research_with_Revised_CD_ROM_?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=CYbrXW9Y5R&rank=4
Interview with the authors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXMmq1p3g0
Chapo interview with authors
https://youtu.be/Uauei42QLhE
Copy of Original review
Makes Some points that Galbraith made in the 1950s (see "New Industrial State") in the post-WWII era that industrial economic planning is not only possible but more crucially part of the standard operating procedure in the rich countries. It is just that Americans, in particular, have been indoctrinated in free-market rugged individualist fantasies of the Austrian School from the 1920s socialist calculation debate. It keeps the average person's eye off the ball (the fact that our economies are rife with industrial planning) and that real democracy has choices of how to make their economies work for people but unfortunately, they are run largely as an ever-narrowing capitalist oligarchy that is as centralized as anything in the fevered nightmares of anticommunist firebrands. Wake up you've been sold a bill of goods.
Update June 11, 2022, The authors have referenced a large body of research outside the usual socialist sources including operations research and logistics, and cybernetics. This has been the first socialist book that referenced Cantor's transfinite. We think of the Soviets as backward but a lot of operations research that runs our current economies and states was the work of Soviet economists some things like Linear Programming and the simplex model were inspired by works of a planned economy that can both work in large capitalist firms of planned democratic socialist economies. Also talks about Allende's experiment in Chile to use cybernetics as the operating system of a democratic socialist economy in the seventies. Many unknown corners of socialism's promise to be found in this book.
Galbraiths Economic work (more qualitative) New Industrial state https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/244904.The_New_Industrial_State?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fQEcpsYBCt&rank=1
More technical work on Operations Research but if you want to get into the details of how logistics happen a book like this can help in building a social democratic utopia that actually works there are loads of these books out there find one compatible with your reading style. I picked this one on a wild guess.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1441120.Introduction_to_Operations_Research_with_Revised_CD_ROM_?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=CYbrXW9Y5R&rank=4
Interview with the authors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXMmq1p3g0
Chapo interview with authors
https://youtu.be/Uauei42QLhE
"And the transformation needed if it is to be democratic, rather than technocratic, will have to be led by, not on behalf of, workers at Walmart, Amazon, Facebook and other transnationals."