The Road to Serfdom
The economic calculation problem refers to a criticism of planned economies which was first stated by Max Weber in 1920. Mises subsequently discussed Weber's idea with his student Friedrich Hayek, who developed it in various works including "The Road to Serfdom". What the calculation problem essentially states, is that without price signals, the factors of production would never be allocated in the most efficient way possible, making Socialism as a system unworkable.