A key economic debate is the extent to which should governments intervene in the economy? At one extreme, free-market economists/libertarians, argue that government intervention should be limited to all but the most basic services, such as the protection of private property and the maintenance of law and order. At the other extreme, Marxist economists argue …
Definition – A mixed economy means that part of the economy is left to the free market, and part of it is managed by the government. Mixed economies start from the basis of allowing private enterprise to run most businesses. Then the governments intervene in certain areas of the economy, such as providing public services …
Profit is the surplus revenue after a firm has paid all its costs. Profit can be seen as the monetary reward to shareholders and owners of a business. In a capitalist economy, profit plays an important role in creating incentives for business and entrepreneurs. For an incumbent firm, the reward of higher profit will encourage …
A command or planned economy occurs when the government controls all major aspects of the economy and economic production. In a command economy, it is the government that decides what to produce, how to produce goods and how to distribute goods and services within the economy. Command economies were often associated with the political system …
Definition – A centrally planned economy is an economy where decisions on what to produce, how to produce and for whom are taken by the government in a centrally managed bureaucracy. Central planning is also referred to as a ‘Command economy’ or ‘Communist economy.’ WIth Central planning, the theory is that the government will take …
Definition A surplus occurs when the amount of a good or assets exceeds the quantity actively used. If a firm supplies one 1,000 Christmas Trees, but there is demand for only 400, then it will have a surplus of 600 unsold Christmas Trees. If the price was stuck at P2, the supply (Q3) would be …
In the past few decades, there has been a dramatic decline in global birth rates, with many developed economies seeing their birth rate fall well below the ‘replacement ratio’ of 2.1 – meaning that their population will be set to decline in future years. Italy gives a stark warning of the impact of a low …