You can't compress the complexity, but they still try and the people are the ones paying the price. This is not that different to policy planning done by democratic countries, but more wholesome, on more levels. There are many countries (ex-communist) that serve as a proof how it can go wrong without big data.
I think it's arguable you can compress the complexity.
Certainly something like Project Cybersyn [1] would have a much better chance of success now than in the 70s. (Although admittedly, the CIA backed regime change stopped it then)
And when I say compress complexity, I'm using it in an interchangeable sense with "increase efficiency of those humans who do make decisions." There are a huge number of actions that need to be taken -- but many require little or no thought.
Automating those formulaic actions and only surfacing critical decisions with relevant data qualifies as compressing complexity, imho.
Sadly, in China, this is being done in a politically paranoid police state.
One wonders what could happen if you had a computer-planned economy, some kind of basic income, and individual freedom to spend the rest of ones labor.
