路德维希·冯·米塞斯在1920年的著名文章《社會主義聯邦的經濟計算(英语:Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth)》中指出价格体系在社会主义经济中必定缺乏,因为如果政府掌控了生产资料,那就没有可以像仅仅是在社会主义体系内部的货物输送,且不是“交易的对象”那样获取资本财产的价格,不像最终产品。所以他们无法定价,并且因此自从中央计划者不能知道怎样有效的分配有用的资源这一体系必定会变得没有效益。[10]这使得他声称“理性的经济活动在社会主义共同體中是办不到的”。[4]米塞斯在他1922年的著作《Socialism, an Economic and Sociological Analysis》中把他对社会主义的批评发展的更为完善。
斯拉芬卡·德拉库利奇在她的书《如何在共产主义中存活,甚至一笑置之》(How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed)[18]中宣称导致社会主义计划经济在前苏联阵营的失败的主要原因是为人民生产所渴求的基本的消费品的失败。她指出,因为这些政权领导下的掩饰,对女性的关注受到了特别的忽视。她通过这一体制下洗衣机生产的失败加以特别详细的说明。如果国有行业能持续亏损运营,可能还会无限期实行不能满足消费者需要的产品的生产。如果消费者的需求太低以至于不能支持由消费者自愿支付再加以税收补贴的产业,就会妨碍资源(资本和劳力)到满足更多消费者急需的地方去。据经济学家米尔顿·弗雷德曼,“损失的一部分和利润的一部分一样重要。从政府的社会主义制度区别私营体系的是损失的部分。如果企业家的项目不能运行,他就会关闭;如果是政府经营的项目,就会被扩张,因为没有对利益和亏损因素的约束。”[19]
阿克顿勋爵的格言“权力导致腐败”(Power tends to corrupt)被一些对社会主义的批评引用以指出社会主义国家的领导人会比别人更容易腐败,因为社会主义国家有比别国更宽泛的领域。[37]米尔顿·弗里德曼指出私有经济活动的缺少会让政治领导人赋予自己很大的权力。[38]温斯顿·丘吉尔在1945年大选间与他的社会主义竞争对手克莱门特·艾德礼对垒的竞选活动中宣称社会主义为实现其目标要求采用极权主义的方法,包括政治警察。[39]
^F. A. Hayek, (1935), "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," om in 弗里德里希·哈耶克, ed. Collectivist Economic Planning, pp. 1–40, 201–43.
^Stiglitz, Joseph. Whither Socialism?. The MIT Press. January 1996. ISBN 978-0262691826. .
^ 8.08.1Self, Peter. Socialism. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy, editors Goodin, Robert E. and Pettit, Philip. Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p. 339 "Extreme equality overlooks the diversity of individual talents, tastes and needs, and save in a utopian society of unselfish individuals would entail strong coercion; but even short of this goal, there is the problem of giving reasonable recognition to different individual needs, tastes (for work or leisure) and talents. It is true therefore that beyond some point the pursuit of equality runs into controversial or contradictory criteria of need or merit."
^F·A·哈耶克, (1935), "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," om in F·A·哈耶克, ed. Collectivist Economic Planning, pp. 1-40, 201-43.
^ 10.010.1Fonseca, Gonçalo L. The socialist calculation debate. HET. 200? [2007-04-03]. (原始内容存档于2009-02-18). The information here has not been reviewed independently for accuracy, relevance and/or balance and thus deserves a considerable amount of caution. As a result, I would prefer not to be cited as reliable authorities on anything. However, I do not mind being listed as a general internet resource. ([1])请检查|date=中的日期值 (帮助)
^F·A·哈耶克, (1935), "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," in F·A·哈耶克, ed. Collectivist Economic Planning, pp. 1-40, 201-43.
^汉斯-赫尔曼·霍普. A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism [2] (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆). Kluwer Academic Publishers. 在PDF文档的46页.
What remains of socialism ?[5], by Emile Perreau-Saussine, in Patrick Riordan (dir.), Values in Public life: aspects of common goods (Berlin, LIT Verlag, 2007), pp. 11–34