The Socialist Calculation Debate of the 1930s Was the Most Important Theoretical Controversy in the History of the Field of Comparative Economics

The socialist calculation debate of the 1930s is widely acknowledged to have been the most important theoretical controversy in the history of the field of comparative economics. Alexander Eckstein was not exaggerating when he referred to the debate as a "theoretical controversy ... of far-reaching importance in the study of comparative economics" that "focused on a range of problems that had a profound impact on the development of the field."

--Don Lavoie, introduction to Rivalry and Central Planning: The Socialist Calculation Debate Reconsidered (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 1.