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… is from page 101 of Eamonn Butler’s excellent 2018 monograph, An Introduction to Capitalism [2]:
There is actually plenty of planning in capitalism: individuals and firms make plans all the time. Those plans get constant and instant feedback from the daily decisions of customers on what they will or will not buy, and producers quickly adjust their plans accordingly. If they make a mistake, it is only they who suffer. But things are quite different when a nation’s entire production is planned. Such huge schemes are slow to put into effect and to change; there is less feedback because consumers have less choice; so there is less dynamism and progress. And if the plan proves mistaken, the whole nation suffers.
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