Market and Command Economies

Economics is a science that analyzes what, how, and for whom society produces. The central economic problem is to reconcile the conflict between people's unlimited demands with society's ability to produce goods and services.

In industrial Western countries markets are to allocate resources. The market is the process by which production and consumption are coordinated through prices.

In a command economy, a central planning office makes decisions on what, how, and for whom to produce. Economy cannot rely entirely on command, but there was extensive planning in many Soviet bloc countries.

A free market economy has no government intervention. Resources are allocated entirely through markets.

Modern economies in the West are mixed and rely mainly on the market but with a large dose of government intervention. The optimal level of government intervention remains a problem which is of interest to economists.

The degree of government restrictions differs greatly between countries that have command economies and countries that have free market economies. In the former, resources are allocated by central government planning. In the latter, there is not any government regulation of the consumption, production, and exchange of goods. Between the two main types lies the mixed economy where market and government are both of importance.

Mixed Economy

There are three types of management in economies. An economy maybe almost totally planned, as it was in the Soviet Union. An economy may be almost totally unplanned, as it is in the USA. Or an economy may be a combination of planning and freedom of operation. Examples of the latter are Japan and South Korea.

In a planned economy the government decides what goods are to be produced and how they are to be marketed. Governments set all the priorities, and the producers are to follow the directions given to them.

In a partially planned economy such as Japan's, the government often encourages industry and helps it with subsidies. Government also makes investments and regulates trade.

The United States is an example of an unplanned economy. But it has a lot of government intervention in economic activity. As the economy of the United States grew, and as government and its importance increased, the government policy at every level acquired greater importance for the economy.

But the economy of the United States may be called unplanned because the government does not regulate what will be produced and how it will be marketed. These decisions are left to the producers. Even the great amount of government regulation that has emerged since the Great Depression has not turned the economy of the United States into a planned economy.

The name of the American economic system is capitalism. Another name for it is the free market economy.

Demand and Supply

Demand is the quantity of a good that buyers wish to buy at each price. Other things equal, at low prices the demanded quantity is higher.

Supply is the quantity of a good that sellers wish to sell at each price. Other things equal, when prices are high, the supplied quantity is high as well.

The market is in equilibrium when the price regulates the quantity supplied by producers and the quantity demanded by consumers. When prices are not so high as the equilibrium price, there is excess demand (shortage) raising the price. At prices above the equilibrium price, there is excess supply (surplus) reducing the price.

There are some factors influencing demand for a good, such as the prices of other goods, consumer incomes and some others.

An increase in the price of a substitute good (or a decrease in the price of a complement good) will at the same time raise the demanded quantity.

As consumer income is increased, demand for a normal good will also increase but demand for an inferior good will decrease. A normal good is a good for which demand increases when incomes rise. An inferior good is a good for which demand falls when incomes rise.

As to supply, some factors are assumed as constant. Among them are technology, the input price, as well as degree of government regulation. An improvement in technology is as important for increasing the supplied quantity of a good as a reduction in input prices.

Government regulates demand and supply, imposing ceiling prices (maximum prices) and floor prices (minimum prices) and adding its own demand to the demand of the private sector.