Economic system
An economic system is a mechanism which deals with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services in a particular society.
The economic system is composed of people, institutions and their relationships. It addresses the problems of economics, like the allocation and scarcity of resources.
The division of economic systems
There are several basic questions that must be answered in order to resolve the problems of economics satisfactorily. For example, the scarcity problem requires answers to basic questions, such as: what to produce, how to produce it, and who gets what is produced. An economic system is a way of answering these basic questions. Different economic systems answer them differently.
Please note that there is often a strong correlation between certain ideologies, political systems and certain economic systems (for example, consider the meanings of the term "communism"). Many economic systems overlap each other in various areas (for example, the term "mixed economy" can be argued to include elements from various systems). There are also various mutually exclusive hierarchical categorizations.
The most basic and general economic systems are:
An economic system can be considered a part of the social system and hierarchically equal to the law system, political system, cultural system, etc.
More detailed lists of economic systems are given below.
List by left-wing and right-wing
Typically, "left-wing" economic systems involve a greater role for society and/or the government to determine what gets produced, how it gets produced, and who gets the produced goods and services, with the aim of ensuring social justice and a more equitable distribution of wealth (see welfare state).
Meanwhile, "right-wing" economic systems give more power to certain private individuals (or corporations) to make those decisions, rather than leaving them up to society as a whole, and often limit government involvement in the economy.
The primary concern of "left" economic systems is usually egalitarianism, while the primary concern of "right" economic systems is usually private property.
The following list divides the main economic systems into "left-wing" and "right-wing" and it attempts to structure the systems in a given section by alphabetical order and in a vertical hierarchy where possible.
"Left-wing" systems
"Right-wing" systems
"Centrist" system
List by name
An etymologist's approach to economic systems, this list will attempt to sort all possible economic systems in alphabetical order, without any division or hierarchization. If a given economic system has several names, all are listed with a note beside each of them informing the reader that it is one of several alternate listed names.
See also
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