A theory of shortage in socialist economies based on the `soft budget constraint'
认为社会主义经济中的商品短缺源于企业面临的软预算约束：当银行无法承诺不救助亏损项目时，企业大量启动低效投资，挤占家庭消费，导致市场无法出清。
This paper attributes shortages of goods in socialist economies to the soft financial constraints that firms in such economies face. A 'soft budget constraint' problem arises when the state bank is unable to make a credible commitment not to refinance bad projects once some investment costs are sunk. In such a situation, if a consumer good is also demanded by firms as an input and the seller cannot separate firms from households, the high market-clearing price would lead to welfare losses because too many bad projects would start and crowd out household consumption. Copyright 1994 by American Economic Association.