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Market socialism is, in fact, a contradiction in terms. The fashionable discussion of market socialism often
overlooks one crucial aspect of the market. When two goods are indeed exchanged, what is really exchanged is
the property titles in those goods. When I buy a newspaper for fifty cents, the seller and I are exchanging prop-
erty titles: I yield the ownership of the fifty cents and grant it to the newsdealer, and he yields the ownership of
the newspaper to me. The exact same process occurs as in buying a house, except that in the case of the news-
paper, matters are much more informal, and we can all avoid the intricate process of deeds, notarized contracts,
agents, attorneys, mortgage brokers, and so on. But the economic nature of the two transactions remains the
same.
This means that the key to the existence and flourishing of the free market is a society in which the rights
and titles of private property are respected, defended, and kept secure. The key to socialism, on the other hand,
is government ownership of the means of production, land, and capital goods. Thus, there can be no market in
land or capital goods worthy of the name.
Some critics of the free-market argue that property rights are in conflict with "human" rights. But the critics
fail to realize that in a free-market system, every person has a property right over his own person and his own la-
bor, and that he can make free contracts for those services. Slavery violates the basic property right of the slave
over his own body and person, a right that is the groundwork for any person's property rights over non-human ma-
terial objects. What's more, all rights are human rights, whether it is everyone's right to free speech or one indi-
vidual's property rights in his own home.
A common charge against the free-market society is that it institutes "the law of the jungle", that it spurns
human cooperation for competition, and that it exalts material success as opposed to spiritual values, philoso-
phy, or leisure activities. On the contrary, the jungle is precisely a society of coercion, theft, and parasitism, a
society that demolishes lives and living standards. The peaceful market competition of producers and suppliers
is a profoundly cooperative process in which everyone benefits, and where everyone's living standard flourishes
(compared to what it would be in an unfree society). And the undoubted material success of free societies pro-
vides the general affluence that permits us to enjoy an enormous amount of leisure as compared to other socie-
ties, and to pursue matters of the spirit. It is the coercive countries with little or no market activity, notably un-
der communism, where the grind of daily existence not only impoverishes people materially, but deadens their
spirit.
Gross Domestic Product
By Lincoln Anderson
Gross domestic product, the official measure of total output of goods and services in the U.S. economy,
represents the capstone and grand summary of the world's best system of economic statistics. The federal gov-
ernment organizes millions of pieces of monthly, quarterly, and annual data from government agencies, compa-
nies, and private individuals into hundreds of statistics, such as the consumer price index (CPI), the employ-
ment report, and summaries of corporate and individual tax returns. The U.S. Department of Commerce then
marshals the source data into a complete set of statistics known as the National Income and Product Accounts.
This set of double-entry accounts provides a consistent and detailed representation of production in the United
States (GDP) and its associated income (national income).
In addition, the Commerce Department derives data on inputs to production (labor and capital) and tabu-
lates them to form industry data on production; intermediate steps in production (input-output tables); detailed
data on prices; and international and regional statistics. The theoretical development and construction of this
accounting system was a major achievement requiring the services of a renowned group of accountants, busi-
ness executives, economists, and statisticians. And because the economy continues to evolve, the conceptual
and statistical work is never complete. Government agencies are continuously revising the data and occasion-
ally find sizable errors in GDP or GDP components. Keeping GDP current and accurate is no mean feat.
For the United States, GDP replaces gross national product (GNP) as the main measure of production. GDP
measures the output of all labor and capital within the U.S. geographical boundary regardless of the residence
of that labor or owner of capital. GNP measures the output supplied by residents of the United States regardless
of where they live and work or where they own capital. Conceptually, the GDP measure emphasizes production
in the United States, while GNP emphasizes U.S. income resulting from production. The difference, called net
factor income received from abroad, is trivial for the United States, amounting to only $13 billion (0,2 per cent
of GDP) in 1991. This shift in emphasis brings the United States into conformance with the international ac-
counting convention.
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