12 Questions
What is the best known example of a command economy?
Cuba
In a market economy, who owns the factors of production?
Businesses
What drives the decisions in a market economy?
Desire for profit
Which economic system is characterized by individual freedom, competition, and less government control?
Market economy
In a market economy, who decides what to buy?
Consumers
What determines how a society answers the basic economic questions?
Individual preferences
In a pure market economy, who coordinates the decisions?
Individual businesses
What is the primary role of governments in ensuring markets stay competitive?
Regulating and intervening to punish law-breaking businesses
What are externalities in an economic context?
Unintended side effects impacting third parties
What is the opposite economic system of a command economy?
Market economy
What did Karl Marx predict would lead to the overthrow of capitalists?
Class struggle between workers and capitalists
In Communism, what is the envisioned property ownership model?
Common ownership of all property
Study Notes
Economic Systems
- An economic system is the way a society organizes the production and consumption of goods and services.
Command Economy
- Characterized by the government making all economic decisions.
- Example: Cuba, where the government tells people when and when they cannot run their own business.
- In a command economy, the government decides what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.
Market Economy
- Characterized by individual freedom, competition, and less government control.
- Examples: United States, characterized as a synonym for Capitalism.
- Characteristics:
- Private citizens own the factors of production (natural resources, capital, labor, and entrepreneurship).
- Businesses decide what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.
- Decisions driven by business owners' desire for profit.
- Consumers decide what to buy, and supply and demand interact to set prices.
- Decentralized decision-making, with many individuals involved.
Dealing with Externalities
- Externalities: unintended side effects that affect third parties.
- Government works to reduce negative externalities (e.g., pollution) and encourages positive externalities (e.g., funding scientific research).
Per Capita GDP
- The total GDP divided by the country's population.
- Expresses GDP in terms of each person, allowing for comparison of nations' economic success regardless of size.
Socialism and Communism
- Socialism: the belief that the means of production should be owned and controlled by society directly or through the government.
- Goal: distribute wealth more equally among all citizens.
- Communism: a system in which all property is held in common, and there is no need for government.
Government Control
- In a command economy, the government owns most productive resources, such as land and capital.
- The government decides what to produce, how it's produced, and for whom.
Test your knowledge about different economic systems such as command economy and market economy. Learn about how societies organize the production and consumption of goods and services.
Make Your Own Quizzes and Flashcards
Convert your notes into interactive study material.
Get started for free
