I think The reason why communist economies were unable to compete with free market economies in terms of production and efficiency is : The limited innovation
- In a communist economy, the Government tell each people what to do and how much they should do it no matter they like it or not. Now imagine, that someone that has a talent to built a magnificent machine were forced to lift bricks for construction
- The government takes all the profit. This will kill the spirit of competition that would increase production and efficiency in a healthy way