ABSTRACT
In the terminology current since Aristotle we can express the difference by saying that a free economy can always achieve only commutative justice, while socialism and in a great measure the popular ideal of social justice demands distributive justice. The fact that much more knowledge contributes to form the order of a market economy than can be known to any one mind or used by any one organization is the decisive reason why a market economy is more effective than any other known type of economic order. We have since learnt that there exist political systems which make very difficult even such intellectual honesty as is a basic condition for all genuine science. The chief task of economic policy would thus appear to be the creation of a framework within which the individual not only can freely decide for himself, but in which also this decision based on his particular knowledge will contribute as much as possible to aggregate output.
