ABSTRACT
At the same time, much of the literature from the socialist countries is either concerned with the theory of value only to the point of literary exegesis, or excessively preoccupied with practical, computational considerations and ad hoc arguments intended as support for the various policy positions. (A notable exception is the work by Brody, 1970, discussed in some detail below, which is the source of several strands in my own thinking on this problem.) One therefore feels a deep need for a general theory of socialist price formation; this chapter is addressed to that need. Without attempting to survey either the source literature or the derivative "planometrics" literature, I will explore in this chapter the relation between the candidates for a general principle of socialist pricing, on the one hand, and the normative, or evaluative, standard inherent in a socialist social structure-the relations of production-on the other. The discovery that the principle and the structure are intimately related, and that they evolve over time, will suggest some comments on the main themes of the Western critical literature,
andindirectlyontheneoclassicalunderpinningsofthatliterature.Somelight, hopefully,willalsobethrownonthepositionofthelabortheoryofvaluewithin arigorousquantitativeeconomicsand,specifically,itsroleinsocialistprice calculation.
