I think it's the fundamental difference between planned vs free market economics. While markets are generally thought to make rational decisions over time due t

I think it's the fundamental difference between planned vs free market economics. While markets are generally thought to make rational decisions over time due to the decentralized signalling of prices, and planned economy needs to have someone up on top making "correct" decisions. It's not really science, but they needed a way to try and quantify and measure what they were doing.