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Economic interventionism

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Economic interventionism is an action taken by a government in a market economy or market-oriented mixed economy, beyond the basic regulation of fraud and enforcement of contracts, in an effort to affect its own economy.[citation needed] Economic intervention can be aimed at a variety of political or economic objectives, such as promoting economic growth, increasing employment, raising wages, raising or reducing prices, promoting equality, managing the money supply and interest rates, increasing profits, or addressing market failures. The term economic intervention assumes the state and economy are inherently separate, and therefore state action in the economy is an intervention in a market or market-oriented mixed economy.

Economic planning refers to planned economic activity in production, or the directing of an economy towards specific objectives, social or economic. Planned economic activity may be direct (directive planning), or indirect as in the case of indicative planning. An economic system that is characterized by the primacy of economic planning over the market is referred to as a Planned economy, where resource allocation and the quantity produced is allocated by non-market means, usually through state-led planning.

Economic planning tends to be associated with the political left, while economic interventionism is often associated with centrism, which believes that certain market outcomes are undesirable or ineffective and ought to be mitigated. Both Economic interventionism and planning is sometimes practiced by national conservative, fascist, economic nationalist and right-wing parties with the thinking that the free market can damage national traditions, social order, or the authority of the state itself.

Types of interventions

Economic interventions common in contemporary governments include[citation needed] targeted taxes, targeted tax credits, minimum wage legislation, union shop rules, contracting preferences, direct subsidies to certain classes of producers, price supports, price caps, production quotas, import quotas, and tariffs. Demand management and Keynesian economics (helicopter money) are sometimes cited as mild forms of economic planning, designed to overcome cyclical instability inherent in market economies, or to make market economies function properly in a desired fashion.

Effects

Economic intervention can be seen by advocates of free market or laissez-faire economics as damaging[which?] to the economy. Economically left-wing entities see economic interventionism as a way of ensuring that firms adhere to the social boundaries of that country and that they often outweigh potential negative unintended consequences. It is difficult to suggest precisely what effects it will have on a given society.

See also