Calculation and Socialism | Timothy Terrell

Timothy Terrell revisits Mises's 1920 bombshell: under socialism, rational economic calculation isn't just hard—it's impossible. Without market prices for the means of production, a central planner is blind, unable to tell whether he's creating wealth or destroying it. Terrell traces the argument from Soviet railroads and steel-bodied fighter jets to a strikingly modern target: the U.S. government's central planning of the American West. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 21, 2026. Mises University is the world's leading instructional program in the Austrian School of economics, and is the essential training ground for economists who are looking beyond the mainstream. 0:00 Introduction: Mises on Calculation and Socialism 3:05 Money Doesn't Measure Subjective Value: The Coffee Example 4:17 Under Socialism, Calculation Is Impossible 8:28 How Do Socialist Economies Survive? 12:24 The Railroad Track Problem: Central Planners Can't Decide 16:37 Rail vs. Air: How the Problem Compounds 20:44 The MiG-25: Material Choices Without Prices 26:51 Socialists Didn't Give Up: Calculating Without Prices 28:55 Soviet Incentives: Build Big, Build Impressive 31:00 The Calculation Problem in America Today: BLM 36:16 Public Lands and the Absence of Market Pricing 40:21 Government Forest Mismanagement and Wildfires 43:13 Governments Can't Allocate Intertemporally Either Find free books, daily articles, podcasts, lecture series, and everything about the Austrian School of Economics at https://Mises.org​​. X ► https://x.com/mises/ Facebook ►   / mises.institute   Instagram ►   / misesinstitute   SoundCloud ►   / misesmedia   Apple Podcasts ► https://podcasts.apple.com/us/artist/... Rumble ► https://rumble.com/c/c-2212754 Odysee ► https://odysee.com/@mises/ Podcasts ► https://mises.org/podcasts