ABSTRACT
Let us then consider how the Central Authority in a Plansoc might cope with these problems. Let us put the problems in terms of the simple example given on pp. 347–356 above and illustrated in Table XIV. At 8 a.m. on day 0 the Central Authority has at its disposal certain resources for employment, namely L 0 units of labour, https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_1.tif"/> units of the intermediate product J, and https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_2.tif"/> units of the intermediate product https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_3.tif"/> and https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_4.tif"/> being the outputs of J and K respectively of the previous day, namely day −1. The sole problem with which the Central Authority is concerned is to decide how best to use L 0, https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_5.tif"/> , and https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315132389/04072f43-ab09-481c-8ac4-b42a22b8c9f4/content/inq19_360_6.tif"/> during day 0. But in order to do this it will have to look beyond day 0 to see what intermediate products are required on day 1, since the use of the available resources during day 0 will determine what man-made instruments of production are available for use on day 1; and so on. For this purpose the Central Authority at 8 a.m. on day 0 must make a plan which involves forecasting what it considers are likely to be the needs of days 1, 2, 3, etc., but which does not involve hard and fast decisions about how resources will in fact be used on days 1, 2, 3, etc. The best possible forecasts of how resources will be used on days 1, 2, 3, etc., are needed to form hard and fast decisions about how to allocate resources at 8 a.m. on day 0 for use during day 0. But it is not until 8 a.m. on day 1 that hard and fast decisions need to be taken about how resources are used during day 1; and when the morning of day 1 comes the plan can be revised in the light of new knowledge, new experience, and new guesses about days 2, 3, etc.
