I wasn't completely clear, but: yes, obviously the preferences of the public were a big deal, as was the over-ambition of central planning without the technolog

I wasn't completely clear, but: yes, obviously the preferences of the public were a big deal, as was the over-ambition of central planning without the technological or theoretical ability to do it well. But you can look at that as part of the same system, getting the people on your side, both with actual benefits and imagined ones was a large part of the superiority of the western system.