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Rev Austrian Econ (2016) 29:331335
DOI 10.1007/s11138-015-0299-7
James R. Otteson: The end of socialism
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2014. xiv + 224 Pages. $29.99 (paperback)
Gerard Casey
Published online: 29 January 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
I first came across the work of James Otteson while rummaging in the bargain book section of Hodges Figgiss bookshop in Dublin some years ago. His book Actual Ethics (Otteson 2006) was available at a spectacular discount and even though I hadnt at the time heard of him, it seemed like a worthwhile speculative purchase. Never was money better spent! Here was someone who, beside myself (Casey 2012), thought that the ethical writings of Adam Smith were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Having finished Actual Ethics, I quickly purchased (at full price!) and read Ottesons Adam Smiths Marketplace of Life (Otteson 2002), a more directly interpretative account of the work of Smith but, once again, superbly written, engaging and insightful. Ottesons latest book, which is written in a neo-Smithian vein, can be seen as a more or less indirect rejoinder to Gerry Cohens, Why Not Socialism? (Cohen 2009), one of a number of such works (Terry Eagletons (2011) Why Marx was Right is another) that sprouted up, fertilised by the supposed crisis of capitalism that erupted in 2008.
As is the case with many terms in politics and philosophy, the term socialism is essentially contested. For Otteson, the ineliminable core of socialism is its commitment to centrally organised political-economic decision-making. On the other hand, capitalism, socialisms antithesis, is committed to decentralised political-economic decision-making. The first part of Ottesons book is likely to be of more interest to economists and policy analysts, the second part to philosophers. Each part, however, complements the other and both should be read, whatever ones initial predilections.
The method Otteson employs in the book makes two assumptions; first, if a political philosophy is to be taken seriously, it must take into account questions of practicability; and second, practical policy prescriptions must exhibit their reliance on defensible moral values. Otteson sets out in the first part of his book to show that any attempt to implement socialism faces formidable obstacles and substantial costs. It may be that these obstacles can...