Feb. 20 - Alternative Economy Debate

The market, as a system for internal coordination, has been abandoned by large corporations. Previously, companies with multiple divisions would establish an internal market for exchange between divisions. This approach has been replaced by Enterprise Resource Planning systems. These are an elaboration of accounting systems, typically running on large mainframe computers. With these Systems, a cross division plan is developed, and then both resources and manpower are assigned as necessary by the System.

The largest corporations have budgets that exceed those of most countries. Therefore, Enterprise Resource Planning systems could potentially be used to manage state economies. However, centralized planning has failed in states. With Internet connected personal computers, decentralized and democratic planning is possible. An example of inputs and outputs on a personal computer for such a planning process will be presented. Inputs are expressed as desired outcomes and potential time commitments to them. The output is a calendar of tasks to be completed, resulting from automated negotiation among participants' computers.

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