In the old Soviet Union, it was discovered that workers who received guaranteed
employment and a guaranteed wage regardless of what work they did and how well
they did it performed poorly. This contributed in an important way to the
economic crisis and ultimate collapse of state socialism. A basic
characteristic of human nature even agreed to by such WSNers as Chase-Dunn and
Hall, is that humans follow a Law of Least Effort. That is, they try to expend
a minimal amount of time and energy in the performance of activities, especially
those involving toil. Socialist labor systems, much to their dismay, ran up
against this hard fact and suffered accordingly.
Of course, Austin will now claim that there's no such thing as human nature.
We've had that debate before. But the evidence from anthropology and history
suggests otherwise.
For all of its faults capitalism still works better in some ways than many
other social systems, socialist societies included. Even world-system
theorists like Wallerstein admit that overcentralization of production is a
problem that has to be avoided in creating any future socialist system.
Markets and incentives are important and have a role to play, even within
"socialism."
Stephen Sanderson