University of Southern California Difference Between Fabians and Ordoliberals Essay

Please choose ONE of the following topics to write a 6 paper essay on.  

1. In 1941, as WWII began, economist Alvin Hansen remarked that: “It is not possible to go back to the atomistic order…. We do not have a choice between ‘plan and no plan.’ We have a choice only between democratic planning and totalitarian planning.” (p. 163) Explain the options as Hansen saw them. What is the “atomistic order,” would would be “democratic planning,” and how do those differ from “totalitarian planning”?

2. Was the core argument of Hayek’s Road to Serfdom the criticism of planning generally, or the argument (sometimes called the “inevitability thesis”) that the introduction of small amounts of planning would inevitably lead to much more planning — indeed, to an almost completely planned economy?

3. Identify and explain the Fabian Society’s argument about why and how economic planning should occur. How would Fabians counter the Hayek “inevitability thesis” (i.e., that any planning will lead to comprehensive planning)?

4. Distinguish the Fabians from the Ordoliberals in terms of their departures a from free-market form of economic organization.

5. The Ordoliberals are considered both “friends” of free enterprise, and “critics” of unbridled capitalism. How is that possible? What do they share, and what do they not share with ether capitalists or socialists?

6. What does “development planning” in India share with Fabian socialism and/or with Soviet communism? 

7. What were key ingredients of socialism in India? What were the ideas behind the unique features that Indian socialism had? Were those features successful?

8. Aside from “the institutions of private property,” what institutions do you think promote successful economic performance?