Authors libby rittenberg 99
Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (383.51 KB, 1 trang )
to allocate resources efficiently to gain as much production as possible
from their factors of production. But whether firms will seek to maximize
profits depends on the nature of the economic system within which they
operate.
Classifying Economic Systems
Each of the world’s economies can be viewed as operating somewhere on a
spectrum between market capitalism and command socialism. In
a market capitalist economy, resources are generally owned by private
individuals who have the power to make decisions about their use. A
market capitalist system is often referred to as a free enterprise economic
system. In acommand socialist economy, the government is the primary
owner of capital and natural resources and has broad power to allocate the
use of factors of production. Between these two categories
lie mixed economies that combine elements of market capitalist and of
command socialist economic systems.
No economy represents a pure case of either market capitalism or
command socialism. To determine where an economy lies between these
two types of systems, we evaluate the extent of government ownership of
capital and natural resources and the degree to which government is
involved in decisions about the use of factors of production.
Figure 2.14 "Economic Systems" suggests the spectrum of economic
systems. Market capitalist economies lie toward the left end of this
spectrum; command socialist economies appear toward the right. Mixed
economies lie in between. The market capitalist end of the spectrum
includes countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and
Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen
Saylor URL: />
Saylor.org
99
