The Dutch Golden Age and the Rise of Capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe: A Neo-Institutional Comparative Analysis

The socialists’ deliberate organisation of society inspired Barone to formulate principles for solving the allocation problem in a ‘collectivist régime’ and to elaborate the Walrasian and Paretian mathematical approach in order “to determine in what manner the Ministry concerned with production ought to direct it” (Barone 1935, pp. 245–246). It was held that the planning authority should be concerned with the attainment of marginal substitution and transformation rates, with endowments, technologies, and the preferences being given. Hence, the economic problem was perceived as a purely technical one, independent of the political order of society.