Economic Systems
3 Economic Systems
1. Communist/Command
Economy
2. Socialist/Mixed Economy
3. Capitalist/Free Market or Free
Enterprise
Free Enterpise/Capitalist
 A free enterprise system is a market economy
where independent producers supply goods and
services in response to consumer demand. Both
supply and demand are affected by prices. The
system has four characteristics: economic
freedom, voluntary exchange, private property,
and profit motive.
Socialist system/Mixed
Economy
 A socialist system is a market economy in
which government owns some factors of
production yet private ownership of small scale
business is allowed.
Communist/command
 A communist system is characterized by
collective or state ownership of the means of
production. Government, rather than individuals,
owns and controls all resources and economic
decision, resulting in no economic freedom, no
private ownership and no profit motive.
Benefits of a U.S.
Capitalist/free enterprise
system
 Individuals and businesses have the freedom to
operate and compete with minimal government
regulation
 Private ownership of land, minerals,
manufacturing plants, goods and services
 Opportunities for innovativeness and
inventiveness
 Opportunities to earn a profit
 Individuals may choose how to provide their own
labor within the labor market
Types of Industries
 Agriculture refers to the cultivation of land or
ranching; examples include farming; ranching;
cultivation of coffee, tea, sugar, and bananas
 Wholesale industry acts as a middleman in the
industrial process, taking the products from the
producers, sometimes packaging them, and
selling them to retailers; examples exist in every
industry
 Retail refers to the sale of goods individually or in
small quantities to consumers; examples include
the sale of clothing, furniture, foodstuffs, etc.
 Manufacturing refers to the production of
tangible goods (things you can touch) by
manual labor or by machinery, generally on a
large scale; examples include the manufacturing
of cars, airplanes, weapons, steel, chemicals,
computers, electronics, medical equipment, and
furniture
 Service Industries provide labor-intensive work
(things you can not touch) that does not
ultimately result in a tangible product; examples
include restaurants, doctors, nurses, lawyers,
teachers, banking, tourism, salespeople, call
centers, and entertainment