Mixed Economy - Elements of A Mixed Economy

Elements of A Mixed Economy

The elements of a mixed economy have been demonstrated to include a variety of freedoms:

  • to possess means of production (farms, factories, stores, etc.)
  • to participate in managerial decisions (cooperative and participatory economics)
  • to travel (needed to transport all the items in commerce, to make deals in person, for workers and owners to go to where needed)
  • to buy (items for personal use, for resale; buy whole enterprises to make the organization that creates wealth a form of wealth itself)
  • to sell (same as buy)
  • to hire (to create organizations that create wealth)
  • to fire (to maintain organizations that create wealth)
  • to organize (private enterprise for profit, labor unions, workers' and professional associations, non-profit groups, religions, etc.)
  • to communicate (free speech, newspapers, books, advertisements, make deals, create business partners, create markets)
  • to protest peacefully (marches, petitions, sue the government, make laws friendly to profit making and workers alike, remove pointless inefficiencies to maximize wealth creation)

with tax-funded, subsidized, or state-owned factors of production, infrastructure, and services:

  • libraries and other information services
  • roads and other transportation services
  • schools and other education services
  • hospitals and other health services
  • banks and other financial services
  • telephone, mail and other communication services
  • electricity and other energy services (e.g. oil, gas)
  • water systems for drinking, agriculture, and waste disposal
  • subsidies to agriculture and other businesses
  • government-granted monopolies to otherwise private businesses
  • legal assistance
  • government-funded or state-run research and development agencies

and providing some autonomy over personal finances but including involuntary spending and investments such as transfer payments and other cash benefits such as:

  • welfare for the poor
  • social security for the aged and infirm
  • government subsidies to business
  • mandatory insurance (example: automobile)

and restricted by various laws, regulations:

  • environmental regulation (example: toxins in land, water, air)
  • labor regulation including minimum wage laws
  • consumer regulation (example: product safety)
  • antitrust laws
  • intellectual property laws
  • incorporation laws
  • protectionism
  • import and export controls, such as tariffs and quotas

and taxes and fees written or enforced with manipulation of the economy in mind.

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