If it is the article
I think you mean, then the other LA has a copy here: www.la-articles.org.uk/ec.htm.
It was the lead article for a special symposium on the topic in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, so can also be found here:
EXTRACT
The Journal of Libemrim Studies, Vol. V. No. 1 (Winter 1981)
Posing the Problem: The Impossibility of Economic Calculation under Socialism
by David Ramsay Steele
Department of Sociology, University of Hull
The Ekonomic Calculation Argument
For industry to be operated effectively, it is necessary that those in charge
be able to perform "economic calculation." It does not matter at all, for the
purposes of this argument, whether "those in charge" are professional
managers, acquisitive capitalists, workers' councils or other democratically-
elected assemblies, or holy men appointed by the gods. The problem of
economic calculation which faces them is examined in more detail in some
of the following essays, but the general idea can be explained very briefly
and simply.
Those in charge of a productive unit, or enterprise (such as a factory),
have to make decisions from time to time about how it will be run. They
have to decide, for example, whether to instal a new kind of machine, or
whether to switch from one technical process to another which will require
different raw materials. Often they will have to select one plan out of
dozens of possible alternatives. How are they to choose?
At first, the answer might seem obvious. They should choose "the best"
or "most efficient." But that is not as simple as it sounds. It is not a task
which can be performed unaided by those, such as scientists or technicians,
who are familiar only with the physical operations involved. In fact, the
major part of the problem is beyond the competence of technicians or
scientists, and they are powerless to solve it for us.
As a simple example, suppose that we are in charge of an enterprise, and
have to choose between two technical processes, A and B. Process A needs
50 tons of rubber, and 40 tons of timber, per week. Process B requires 40
tons of rubber, and 50 tons of timber, per week. The technical expert has
informed us that A and B are both feasible alternatives for reaching a given
end, but with that her work is done. Her purely technical knowledge does
not enable her to go further, and tell us whether A or B is preferable.
If there were a third possible process, C, which used 35 tons of rubber
and 35 tons of timber per week, to attain the same result as A or B, there
would of course be no further problem: we would choose C. But between A
and B we stand perplexed. Process A would enable us to save on timber,
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