Counter Disadvantages Of A Mixed Economy

1482 Words6 Pages
“A mixed economy is always in flux. The regulations never produce positive results because they force people to act against their own interests.” (Landauer, 2004). I am entitled to agree with Jeff Laudauer in the matter of regulations making people act against their own interests (not to suggest that regulations don’t improve efficiency) but the fact that this is a negative thing is not as convincing. I will be covering two main points. This will firstly be explaining what a mixed economy is and why they are prevalent in so many countries. Secondly, I will discuss a few regulations which don’t achieve efficiency (act against owner’s interests). This will include how they don’t serve in achieving efficiency, how they do achieve the outcomes they are meant to and a moral justification of each of the points. Finally I will repute a few counter arguments against the policies that many governments utilise in their economies. It’s important to understand that there are many forms of mixed economies and that a mixed economy is not simply exactly in between capitalism and communism. Imagine that capitalism and communism are two ends of a spectrum. The space in between would be all the different types of mixed economies, this is the analogy used by philosopher Ayn Rand to explain mixed economies (Rand, 1966). So it makes sense that some systems are weighted more towards communism (State Capitalism). These are economic systems where factors of production are privately owned but the