Comprehensive central planning
Debate on economic calculation and socialism
A planning body coordinates production and allocation at an economy-wide scale.
Historical context
Debates over planning intensified in the twentieth century through proposals and experiences of central coordination. The literature distinguishes central planning from participatory designs and partial plans.
Overview
An overall plan connects goals across sectors that rely on the same resources. Doing so requires information on capacities and needs, adjusting targets when conditions change, and resolving conflicts over priorities.
Main claims
Comprehensive planning gives a coordinating body the main role in setting quantities and allocating inputs.
Market coordination
A central plan plays the primary coordinating role.
Interpretation for comparison · Socialism · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Central planning
A planning authority coordinates production through a comprehensive plan.
Interpretation for comparison · Socialism · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Debates and nuances
Partial planning and decentralised participatory planning raise different questions.
The assessment compares only the positions documented in this entry.