Economic Order Definition

An economic order is a combination of both private and governmental activities that through decision making decide the what, how and from whom of the production and consumption of the decision-making process. (Gooijer, 2007) There are two very different sides to it. On the one side either the government makes all the decisions and on the other side decision making can be left to the market. (Gooijer, 2007) Economic order of countries can be placed between these two extremes. Interestingly, the position of a country’s economy between these two extremes is not fixed. (Gooijer, 2007) Therefore, the author says that the economic order is a dynamic process. According to the author social security systems are an expression of that solidarity and

In modern times communication and the flow of information has become interconnected among different economies and the consequences of economic activities is not restricted to the national economy. (Gooijer, 2007) Therefore, according to the author there is a reason to extend economic order into two new stages namely the European economic order and the global economic order. The first deals with commodification in the European Union and the second deals in increasing attention for the subject of global governance. (Gooijer, 2007) The author stresses that a consequence of these two models of decision making on what, how and for whom of the production and consumption of goods and services will be lifted to a ‘supranational level’. (Gooijer, 2007) Additionally, the decision regarding whether to move to the right or to the left side of the two extremes will no longer be a national economy’s business. Moreover, whether to move to the left or the right is going to be a matter of normative economics because it involves ethical and value

(Gooijer, 2007) The author thinks that a way to influence the present day free market operations is to promote alternative interpretations of the concept of economic growth. (Gooijer, 2007) The author believes that if this alternative approach is applied to the current situation the negatives of the free market economic process will diminish. He further discusses two main arguments behind the present-day international political economy. (Gooijer, 2007) The economic argument and the ideological argument. According to the economic argument the global competition motivates the employees to minimize the labour cost as much as possible. (Gooijer, 2007) This leads to a shrink in the welfare state. The ideological argument combines the two beliefs of neo-liberalism and individualization further legitimizing the need to shrink the welfare state. According to him these arguments have led to decrease in governmental interference in functioning of market and led to uneven distribution of wealth among people. (Gooijer, 2007) Moving to the right side of the two extremes