ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses two objections critics have raised to any kind of comprehensive economic planning. Some critics have dismissed our proposal on grounds that it is impractical to expect consumers to express their desires in sufficient detail to provide producers with the level of detail they require to know what to produce. And some critics have dismissed our proposal on grounds that when, in the words of the poet Robert Burns, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” unlike market economies, planned economies cannot respond effectively when new developments arise. This chapter explains how details can be filled in and adjustments made during implementation and, therefore, why perhaps the most common objections critics have raised to our proposal as impractical are without merit.
