Essay/Term paper: The advantages and disadvantages of a market economy.

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Economics

The Advantages and Disadvantages Of A Market Economy.



27/9/96 Command and Market economies Neil Samtani


When considering the advantages and disadvantages of command and market
economies, you may notice that they are usually straight forward, yet, both
advantages and disadvantages may merge at times, resulting in an unclear issue,
that could be debatable whether it is for the good of the society, or for the
government. Therefore, what I am trying to say, is that no matter how hard you
try, it is always impossible to debate on which economic system is better. Both
have their good points and their bad, but, each is aimed towards a community
that will make use of it. This community has usually got a majority of people
either rich or poor, and, social class usually effects the way people may choose
their government.
In a market economy, the advantages are normally aimed towards the
middle/upper class in a community. This is why we normally find them in richer
communities (i.e. England, USA). The concept of a market economy is to allow
people to get through life by themselves. Government usually does little to
change the economy, and, the control is given to the people with the money, or,
rather, the people with the businesses. The main people in such an economy are
usually the consumers, the producers, the owners of private property, and, the
government. These are the people with the power. The whole system revolves
around private gain rather than the interests of everyone in a community. Since
the rich are in control of the economy, their decisions result in the rich
getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This is a perfect example of what I
mentioned before, which is the way that you can not categorise all statements.
This would be an advantage for the rich, but, a disadvantage for the poor.
However, governments may also affect the situation, resulting in the rich
getting richer, and, the poor managing to stay alive.
The entire idea of the market economy is freedom. The freedom for people
to do what they want, make what they want, and, sell what they want (to a
certain extent). This can also be described as being able to decide WHAT is
going to be produced (what products), HOW it is going to be produced
(organisation, etc.) and FOR WHOM it is going to be produced. This is definitely
an advantage, as freedom and rights are allowed. Besides this, the norm is that
you're wage is affected by the amount you work. The harder a person works, the
more you would expect to get paid. This is another advantage, since people are
paid by the amount they work : a lot of work results in a high outcome, and a
high income for the person. This is an incentive to work too, since, the point
stated previously can affect a person negatively, since, not enough work can
result in pay cuts or, even job losses.
Since the economy is controlled by the rich, a problem that is bound to
occur is the economic growth rates increasing and decreasing. This can result in
people either spending a lot of money (ending up with more people being
employed) , and, people not spending a lot of money (ending up with people being
fired, to save money). This means that there is little job security, which is
one of the disadvantages we are facing today. This means that not working hard
can result in no source of income. However, since the economic growth changes so
much, nothing can be certain. You can be rich one moment, and bankrupt the next.
This also means that a man willing to work can not have a job, and below the
poverty line, which is another disadvantage. There are not always enough jobs to
accommodate the people with the ability to work.

Advantages
Disadvantages

Everyone has rights and freedom to build what they wwant, sell what they
want, and buy what they canafford. Poor people can not necessarily afford
much. Since there is little government interaction with the community, the
people have to manage to live without their help.
It is usually possible to increase living standards by increasing your
level of work, or your quality of it. The economy is controlled by the rich,
and, therefore the richhave the power. Their decisions would always be to get
themselves richer, and, that makes the poor poorer.
There are strong incentives built into the system to innovate and
produce high quality goods (high quality goods = higher income, low quality
goods = lower income / unemployment) Since the economy is controlled by the
people, stable growth is is very difficult. This can result in job losses, due
to a the economic cycle.(boom followed by bust) This result in low job security.
Free markets provide choice for the incentives to innovate, and the
economy to grow. There are bound to be losses. Since job security is low, and
the economy can not always be predicted, bankruptcy is and poverty can creep up
on anyone.