The Political Economy of Complexity: The Case of Cyber-Communism

29 Pages Posted: 4 Mar 2022

See all articles by Vicente Moreno-Casas

Vicente Moreno-Casas

Free Market Institute; Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Texas Tech University

Victor I. Espinosa

Universidad Auntónoma de Chile

William Wang

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)

Date Written: January 18, 2022

Abstract

This article analyzes cyber-communism and the feasibility of socialist planning from complexity theory. It first introduces the most known definitions of complexity in economics, namely computational and dynamic complexity. This enables to construct a complexity political economy from which then deal with cyber-communism. This work emphasizes the impossibility of central planning of a complex system due to the noncomputability of a global optimum, a self-reference problem, and the existence of emergent dynamics. It also highlights the notion of cultivation, as an attitude of respect for institutions and transpersonal coordination mechanisms, as central elements in a complexity political economy. In contrast to cultivation, the article presents the concept of control, which corresponds to traditional economics, as the belief in the effective alteration of economic variables by a group of planners or policymakers. The work concludes that cyber-communism is contrary to a complexity political economy based on cultivation, and that cyber-communist planning is not feasible, ultimately meaning that technology cannot allow socialist planning.

Keywords: complexity theory, emergence, noncomputability, cyber-communism, economic calculation

JEL Classification: B51, B52, B54, C67, C69, P51

Suggested Citation

Moreno-Casas, Vicente and Espinosa, Victor I. and Wang, William Hongsong, The Political Economy of Complexity: The Case of Cyber-Communism (January 18, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4012265 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4012265

Vicente Moreno-Casas (Contact Author)

Free Market Institute ( email )

2500 Broadway
Lubbock, TX 79409
United States

Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Texas Tech University ( email )

Box 42132
Lubbock, TX 79409-2132
United States

Victor I. Espinosa

Universidad Auntónoma de Chile ( email )

Pedro de Valdivia 425 Providencia
Santiago, Santiago
Chile

William Hongsong Wang

Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) ( email )

Carretera de Humera s/n
Madrid, Madrid 28223
Spain

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