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Four views on market socialism are debated in this book. Two of the contributors, David Schweickart and James Lawler, present their versions of a market socialist economy. The two other contributors, Hillel Ticktin and Bertell Ollman, critique this view and argue that only a planned socialist economy can avoid the devastating crises associated with capitalist production. After these initial presentations, each of the contributors responds to the comments of his opponents.
In Schweickart's view, attempts at a planned economy, even in an advanced industrialized country, founder on the problem of incentives: "enterprises have little incentive to expend resources or effort to determine and to provide what consumers really want"; "if inputs and outputs are set by the planning board, enterprises will be inclined to understate their capabilities and overstate their needs" and lobby for lower production quotas and excess supplies of raw materials; "if employment is guaranteed, but incomes are not tied to enterprise performance, workers have little incentive to work"; "if the planning board is responsible for the entire economy it has little incentive to close inefficient units, since that will either contribute to unemployment or necessitate finding new jobs for the displaced workers" (13).
In Schweickart's model of market socialism, which he calls Economic Democracy, the assets of the country are the collective property of the people, but are controlled by the workforces that utilize them. Each enterprise is run democratically, with workers electing the management. The ultimate authority rests with the workers of the enterprise.
Each enterprise must pay a tax on the capital assets under its control. Via a network of public banks, investment funds derived from the taxes are returned to the communities on a per capita basis as a loan to the enterprises or to collectives wishing to set...