Mixed economies in the context of Nationalization

⭐ Core Definition: Mixed economies

A mixed economy is an economic system that includes both elements associated with capitalism, such as private businesses, and with socialism, such as nationalized government services.

More specifically, a mixed economy may be variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economies is a combination of free-market principles and principles of socialism. Alternatively, a mixed economy can refer to a reformist transitionary phase to a socialist economy that allows a substantial role for private enterprise and contracting within a dominant economic framework of public ownership. This can extend to a Soviet-type planned economy that has been reformed to incorporate a greater role for markets in the allocation of factors of production.

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Mixed economies in the context of Economic problem

Economic systems as a type of social system must confront and solve the three fundamental economic problems:

What kinds and quantities of goods shall be produced, "how much and which of alternative goods and services shall be produced?"
How shall goods be produced? ..by whom and with what resources (using what technology)...?"
For whom are the goods or services produced? Who benefits? Samuelson rephrased this question as "how is the total of the national product to be distributed among different individuals and families?"

Economic systems solve these problems in several ways:"... by custom and instinct; by command and centralized control (in planned economies) and in mixed economies that "...uses both market signals and government directives to allocate goods and resources." The latter is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, free markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise..."

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