in the Soviet Union, any significant goods had two price tags: one real and another virtual. The state set the first price through some obscure methods; the usual mechanism of supply and demand established the second price on the market. If you were lucky, after several hours of standing in a queue, you could purchase goods at the state price. However, due to the chronic lack of everything for everyone, the same product could be bought on the black market at a much higher price.
The virtual price became real on the black market and reflected the actual value of the goods for the buyer. The presence of two price tags is a confirmation of the thesis of Ludwig von Mises regarding the impossibility of economic calculations under socialism. At the same time, this is proof of the immortality and immutability of the economic laws of the free market, even under a totalitarian regime. Therefore, two economic systems and two sets of prices co-exist under socialism.
Edit: the article has a bias against socialism but still interesting read on black markets under socialism.
Thanks for sharing
The article is generally full of shit, conflating the conditions present for a few years near the end of the USSR with conditions “under communism” in general. You’ll notice that it cites no sources, not even a single person’s personal experience during those times.
In the USSR, queues to buy most items were as short as most grocery store lines in capitalist countries from the mid-50s to the mid-80s, i.e. after recovering from WWII and before the collapse years. Prior to the 1950s there were shortages due to reasonable factors:
-
A need to revamp the economy to industrialize in general and prepare for capitalists bringing war to them. Putting an end to famines, for example, required this and it took over a decade to accomplish, lining up almost perfectly with The West’s invasion.
-
The war itself.
But, generally speaking, this article is bullshit, propaganda from a person associated with the Mises Institute.
-
At the same time, this is proof of the immortality and immutability of the economic laws of the free market, even under a totalitarian regime.
this is real bullshit - there are so many ways the „free“ market fails on a regular basis - even or especially in capitalism
Immutable laws my ass
I’m sure this US libertarian organization has a lot of valuable and good faith things to say about socialism.
/s
