A number of different economic systems have been developed and are in use in
various societies today. People like to think that each country has only one
economic system. In fact, most countries have a mixture of several different
economic systems working together. Some things are done better with each type
of economic system.
The massive centralized planning and economic dictatorship of communist countries
did not work and has been abandoned in most countries where it had been tried.
Socialist economic systems have a central government role for some important functions
and often a free market system for other economic activities. In most countries
the protective functions of armies, police, courts and regulators are run by the
government. The governments may also run highways, streets, utilities and many
educational institutions and social welfare agencies. These may be supplemented
by market economy additions such as private security firms and private educational
institutions.
Market economies function well for companies making or selling
consumer goods and services. Some of these companies are state sanctioned monopolies
like the power companies. Some are oligopolies where only a few major companies control
the entire market. The remaining goods and services are served by competitive market companies.
The primary reason for their strength is that they are very competitive and so are
tuned to what consumers need and want. Their competitive nature also tends to make
them very efficient.
Abundance economy goods and services have traditionally been limited to free
broadcast radio and television, some advertising newspapers and magazines and small
novelty items to attract customers or which contain advertising. Many religious
and non-profit groups also provided free goods and services but mostly only to people
in need. With the advent of computers and the web, an explosion of abundance economy
goods and services have been made available for everyone and more are being added daily.
Most economic systems are not "free" systems which means they are not
free of massive government intervention in the system. In a communist dictatorship
there is heavy government involvement in planning and resource allocation. In
socialist economic systems the government runs some industries. In free
market systems, there is government involvement by taxes, grants, regulations,
protective tariffs and government subsidies. In abundance economics there may also
be government subsidies, taxes, regulations, licensing, intellectual property laws
and other government involvement.
Some economic systems work well in one type of economic climate but are failures in
other economic climates. For example, a free market economy only works where most people
have or earn some money to keep the economy going. They are not appropriate and generally
failures for situations like a severe depression and in restarting a failed economy like
many third world nations possess. In these situations abundance economic systems would
work better in getting the economy functioning.
There will always be these different types of economies and there will be a
balance between them. When one type of economy does not work well for a particular
purpose it will probably be replaced by another type of economy that offers greater
value to the citizens. It is up to citizens to help balance these types of economies, knowing
that an increase in one means a decrease in another.