On the Economic Theory of Socialism

Authors:

Oskar Lange and Fred M. Taylor
Edited by Benjamin E. Lippincott

“May I urge upon you the desirability of reprinting Lange and Taylor’s On the Economic Theory of Socialism? . . . A book of permanent value.”

Edward H, Chamberlin, Professor of Economics, Harvard University

On the Economic Theory of Socialism was first published in 1938. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

Is socialism workable on economic grounds? “No,” say the chief European critics of socialism – von Mises, Robbins, and von Hayek. “Yes,” say Lange and Taylor in these two papers – the first refutation in English of the objections of these economists.

There has been consistent demand for this book since it went out of print in 1944. This reprint is in response to that demand.

Oskar Lange lectured at the University of Cracow, the University of California, and the University of Chicago. He published numerous books and articles in Polish, German, and English on the problems of economic theory.

Fred M. Taylor, a distinguished American economist, was professor at the University of Michigan from 1904 until his death in 1932. He is the author of Principles of Economics and other volumes. The paper reprinted herewith was his presidential address to the American Economic Association in 1928.

Benjamin E. Lippincott, the editor of this volume, was professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Victorian Critics of Democracy, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1938.

“May I urge upon you the desirability of reprinting Lange and Taylor’s On the Economic Theory of Socialism? . . . A book of permanent value.”

Edward H, Chamberlin, Professor of Economics, Harvard University

“Compresses some very significant discussion, otherwise available only in scattered sources, in one small, well-written, and very portable volume.”

Carl G. Uhr, Department of Economics, University of San Francisco