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Overview
Societies, whether traditional or modern, experience tension between spontaneity (individual freedom) and control (regulation). Consequently, economies as a subsystem of society experience it too. More specifically, they experience a tension between economic individualism and economic collectivism, which in modern economies revolves around the role of the state in the economy. Since the collapse of communism, this tension has manifested itself not as a tension between market capitalism and command socialism but as a tension between the free market and the interventionist variants of market capitalism. Although currently economic and political liberalization is in evidence worldwide, not only in post-communist societies, its outcome remains uncertain.
Synopsis
Societies, whether traditional or modern, experience tension between spontaneity (individual freedom) and control (regulation). Consequently, economies as a subsystem of society experience it too. More specifically, they experience a tension between economic individualism and economic collectivism, which in modern economies revolves around the role of the state in the economy. Since the collapse of communism, this tension has manifested itself not as a tension between market capitalism and command socialism but as a tension between the free market and the interventionist variants of market capitalism. Although currently economic and political liberalization is in evidence worldwide, not only in post-communist societies, its outcome remains uncertain.
Booknews
Opens with an overview of millennia-long economic development, based on the distinction between traditional and modern economies, then distinguishes the four pure types of modern economic systems--market capitalism, market socialism, command socialism, and command capitalism. The author then examines the impact of each type on efficiency, prosperity, individual liberty, and the political system, and discusses government engagement in non-marketed economic activities. Against this backdrop, economic transformation is reviewed as a result of the ongoing tension between economic individualism and economic collectivism. Concludes with a discussion of economic liberalization. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.