Mixed economy

is an economic system that includes a variety of public and government control, or a mixture of capitalism and socialism.^[1]

There is not one single definition for a mixed economy,^[2] but relevant aspects include: a degree of private economic freedom (including privately owned industry) intermingled with centralized economic planning and government regulation (which may include regulation of the market for environmental concerns, social welfare or efficiency, or state ownership and management of some of the means of production for national or social objectives).

For some states, there is not a consensus on whether they are capitalist, socialist, or mixed economies. Economies ranging from the United States^[3] to Cuba^[4] have been termed mixed economies.

The mixed economy as an economic ideal is supported by social democrats as a compromise between socialism and free-market capitalism,^[5] among others.

The elements of a mixed economy typically include a variety of freedoms:

A TGV train in Paris operated by the publicly owned SNCF. In many countries, the rail network is partly or completely, owned or controlled, by the state.

A mail truck. Restrictions are sometimes placed on private mail systems by mixed economy governments. For example, in the U.S., the USPS enjoys a government monopoly on nonurgent letter mail as described in the Private Express Statutes.

This hospital run by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. In most countries the state plays some role in the provision of health care.

• to possess means of production (farms, factories, stores, etc.)
• to participate in managerial decisions (cooperative and participatory economics)
• to travel (needed to transport all the items in commerce, to make deals in person, for workers and owners to go to where needed)
• to buy (items for personal use, for resale; buy whole enterprises to make the organization that creates wealth a form of wealth itself)
• to sell (same as buy)
• to hire (to create organizations that create wealth)
• to fire (to maintain organizations that create wealth)
• to organize (private enterprise for profit, labor unions, workers' and professional associations, non-profit groups, religions, etc.)
• to communicate (free speech, newspapers, books, advertisements, make deals, create business partners, create markets)
• to protest peacefully (marches, petitions, sue the government, make laws friendly to profit making and workers alike, remove pointless inefficiencies to maximize wealth creation)

with tax-funded, subsidized, or state-owned factors of production, infrastructure, and services:

• libraries and other information services
• roads and other transportation services
• schools and other education services
• hospitals and other health services
• banks and other financial services
• telephone, mail and other communication services
• electricity and other energy services (e.g. oil, gas)
• water systems for drinking, agriculture, and waste disposal
• subsidies to agriculture and other businesses
• government-granted monopolies to otherwise private businesses
• legal assistance

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1082