A Future for Socialism

by Roemer

Many people point to recent events―the collapse of the Soviet Union, the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas―as proof that capitalism has triumphed over socialism once and for all. In A Future for Socialism , a noted economist argues that socialism is not dead but merely in need of modernizing. John Roemer believes that the hallmark of socialism is egalitarianism―equality of opportunity for self-realization and welfare, for political influence, and for social status―and he reminds us that capitalist societies face increasingly difficult problems of poverty and social inequality. Reenergizing a debate that began with Oskar Lange and Friedrich Hayek in the late 1930s, he brings to important questions of political economy a new level of sophistication in line with contemporary theories of justice and equality.

Roemer sees the solution of the principal-agent problem as the key to developing a decentralized market-socialist economy. This would be capable of maintaining efficiency and technological innovation while supporting a substantively more equal distribution of income than is achieved in capitalist economies. Roemer defends his views against skeptics on the right, who believe that efficiency and innovation are incompatible with egalitarianism, and skeptics on the left, who believe that socialism is incompatible with markets.

Because of its interdisciplinary approach, A Future for Socialism will appeal to a general social science audience, including economists, political scientists, sociologists, and political philosophers. It is also accessible to the interested reader.

Genres: Economics, Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Political Science, Sociology

188 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read on market socialism. Written in Roemer's very clear and minimalist style. Lays out the history of the debate, the problems with central planning, and sketches out the beginning of his model of a "coupon economy" that could simulate what works best in a capitalist economy (efficient allocation and management of capital goods) while eliminating the existence of a capitalist class. A full exposition of this model though is actually in a later book called Equal Shares that Erik Olin Wright edited.

I think Roemer is most convincing when he argues that socialism should not be defined by a particular property form (whether it be nationalized firms or worker-owned firms) but by a society's ability to guarantee equality of opportunity to maximize personal welfare and pursue social and political honors. I suspect a lot of socialists would disagree with this but I liked it. This sounds very liberal but Roemer shows how actually realizing this goal requires a revolution in property relations, even if it's not the kind of revolution that socialists might have once thought was necessary.

It's missing one thing. Unlike Alec Nove and Michael Harrington, Roemer spends no time talking about the path to transcending the limits of a feasible socialism. Both Nove and Harrington on the other hand talk a lot about the potential for gradual decommodification of goods as they become abundant and for gradually reducing working time. This seems completely complimentary with Roemer's model and would add a more utopian element to it.

[Samppa Sirnö · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was written shortly after the collapse of soviet socialism. It represents an alternative model of socialism based on markets. Short and easy to read in spite of using modern tools of economics, it gives an answer to the question what should and could replace capitalism.

[Diogo Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fundamental for those seeking to better understand the economic theory of Market Socialism. John E. Roemer presents his own model of this theory while comparing to other models of Market Socialism and, of course, to Capitalism.

While it is a very interesting book capturing the essence of a Left-type economy, it is not readable for everybody, since it primarly uses a political-economy language. I would recommend this book more for scholars (on Economic Theory, Political Economy, Political Science, etc.) and economists.

Overall, a simple yet great essay on Marxist economics that challenges the reader to comprehend how a left-wing economy can work by applying both marxist and capitalist mechanisms to form a distinctive theory that can help resolve the main problems found on mainstream models of Capitalism and Marxism.

[Tom Syverson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"the [market socialism] proposals are eclectic in the sense of using many of the microeconomic devices invented by capitalism: not only capital markets, but ways of monitoring firms and, more generally, providing incentives. I view this development as marking a new maturity of the Left."

What struck me about Roemer's analysis was his confrontation of the classic problems of actually-existing socialism with a good understanding of how actually-existing capitalism is carried out. For me, it's less about borrowing from capitalism because only capitalist mechanisms actually work, but rather about recognizing that capitalism doesn't work on its own. In practice, capitalism requires all sorts of artificial legal supports and corrections. For instance, the vast body of corporate law, at a fundamental level, is about negotiating the agent-principal relationship. There is an inherent conflict between a corporation's board and its shareholders, and this is the basic problem of corporate law. Notice that the principal-agent problem is characterized in the socialist experience as an irresolvable, systemic Achilles' heal. But in capitalism, the very same issue is approached as something we can totally solve and get a handle on, through creative thinking, legislative regulation, artificial legal constructs, etc.

There are plenty of other examples: contract law, antitrust law, employment law, etc. The issue of whether to pay dividends or reinvest profits is a familiar issue in modern corporate law, and it's currently negotiated under conditions far more brutal and short-sighted than what Roemer proposes. Another big one is the soft-budget constraint. As we saw in 2008, finance capitalism is in no way immune from that distortion.

In short, capitalism and socialism share some of the same problems. Implementing socialism will almost certainly require borrowing some sophisticated and well-developed devices of our present economic life. Perhaps as a matter of historical accident, most of those devices were developed in the context of capitalism. But this doesn't necessarily make them "bourgeois cant"; rather, we might view the borrowed principles as characteristic of economic relations more generally, and perfectly amenable to socialist goals.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult book but one that probably ought to be read and then reread by anyone serious about bringing socialism to reality. Roemer argues convincingly that socialism is not defined by the ownership or management of the factors of production but by the human freedoms it institutes, guarantees & protects, those being an ethos of economic behavior, an ethic of distributive justice, and a set of property relations that conform to the ethos and implement the ethic. If people behave according to the ethos, and implement the property relations, the distributive ethic should be realized. Our understanding of these three pillars evolves as history unfolds. To determine what twenty-first-century socialism is, we should identify its philosophical underpinnings, compare them with capitalism, and then present several socialist variants.

Roemer further argues that socialism as attempted in the past has failed for 2 primary reasons: a failure to innovate which is explained by the absence of competition, and the failure to cope efficiently with the complexities of resource allocation. His solution for this problem is twofold: the employment of modern "big data" computing systems & reliance on the signals generated by the market.

There is much more & that in part explains by recommendation for in depth study. Further, Roemer is only building a hypothetical "starter" or transitional system to establish the seeds of socialism. Finally, it is appropriate to recognize that Roemer stated intention if to change the rules of the physical - nuts & bolts - system rather than depending on human nature to undergo fundamental change.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lays out the case for "market socialism," whereby most
functions are left to the market but centralized control
is added in where helpful. A clear, well-thought-out
vision without the slightest chance of ever becoming
reality.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clear in his goals and attractively pragmatic.

[Alessio Zakaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so stupid and know nothing please don't take any of this seriously. I am totally unqualified to comment on the economics of the coupon stock exchange or the investment analysis and I hope to revisit when I am smarter/more knowledgeable (my naive and probably wrong take is that it seem unecessarily more complicated than sovereign wealth funds). The historical analysis and the more general discussion is pretty good.

I think it was unwise (what the fuck do I know lmao) to skip over welfare as it seems integral to understanding how effective the suggestions are and also to solving the problems outlined in chapter 1. I disagree with some of the ethics and foundations in the first few sections and particularly in the section on socialism and democracy. Much of the discussion (and pessimism) seems coloured by the defense position he had to take writing after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It would be interesting to get an update on this book post 2008 crash and recovery, the continued success of Nordic social democracies, increasing support for UBI, and the re-emergence of democratic socialist movements in advanced capitalist economies (maybe, in a good way, this would just look like the people's policy project)

[Gray Kemplin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a retroactive review to a book read many months ago, but I’d be remiss not to leave some kind of high praise for it; it’s one of the only roughly 20 books I mark as my all-time favorites. Roemer expertly sets forth a vision for market socialism based on both the theoretical and practical knowledge of the late 20th century. A book well-worth reading for modern egalitarians of all stripes.