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Actually Existing Capitalism
"Actually existing capitalism" or "really existing capitalism" is an ironic term used by critics of certain economic systems considered capitalist or neoliberal. The term is used to claim that many economies purportedly practicing capitalism (an economic system characterized by a ''laissez-faire'' free-market system) actually have significant state intervention and partnerships between private industry and the state. It is a play on the term actually existing socialism. The term ''mixed economy'' is used to describe economies with these attributes. The term seeks to point out discrepancy between capitalism as normally defined and what is labelled as capitalism in practice and to claim that (1) capitalism as defined does not and will not exist and (2) such a "pure" capitalist system is undesirable. The term is used as a response to the economic doctrines that have dominated western economic thought throughout the neoliberal period. Critics point to the use of regulation to avoiding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by a number of basic constituent elements: private property, profit motive, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth. Capitalist economies tend to experience a business cycle of economic growth followed by recessions. Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include '' laissez-faire'' or free-market capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keynesian Economics
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomics, macroeconomic theories and Economic model, models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences Output (economics), economic output and inflation. In the Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the aggregate supply, productive capacity of the economy. It is influenced by a host of factors that sometimes behave erratically and impact production, employment, and inflation. Keynesian economists generally argue that aggregate demand is volatile and unstable and that, consequently, a market economy often experiences inefficient macroeconomic outcomes, including economic recession, recessions when demand is too low and inflation when demand is too high. Further, they argue that these economic fluctuations can be mitigated by economic policy responses coordinated between a government and their central bank. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by a number of basic constituent elements: private property, profit motive, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth. Capitalist economies tend to experience a business cycle of economic growth followed by recessions. Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include '' laissez-faire'' or free-market capitalism, state capitalism, and welfare capitalism. Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets, public ownership, obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social poli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lemon Socialism
Lemon socialism is a pejorative term for a form of government intervention in which government subsidies go to weak or failing firms (''lemons''; see Lemon law), with the effective result that the government (and thus the taxpayer) absorbs part or all of the recipient's losses. The term derives from the conception that in socialism the government may nationalize a company in its entirety, while in lemon socialism the company is allowed to keep its profits but its losses are shifted to the taxpayer. As ersatz capitalism, it may also refer to Joseph Stiglitz's assessment of neo-liberalism, cartelization and rent-seeking in the American economy, "run for and by the powerful". Such payments may be made with the intent of preventing further, systemic damage to what might otherwise be considered a free marketplace. For example, the bailout that followed the 2008 financial crisis may be described as lemon socialism. The pejorative arises from the belief among free market economists tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Too Big To Fail
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected with an economy that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system, and therefore should be supported by government when they face potential failure. The colloquial term "too big to fail" was popularized by U.S. Congressman Stewart McKinney in a 1984 Congressional hearing, discussing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's intervention with Continental Illinois. The term had previously been used occasionally in the press, and similar thinking had motivated earlier bank bailouts. The term emerged as prominent in public discourse following the 2008 financial crisis. Critics see the policy as counterproductive and that large banks or other institutions should be left to fail if their risk management is not effective. Some critics, such as economist Alan Greenspan, believe that such lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Contractor
A government contractor is a company ( privately owned, publicly traded or a state-owned enterprise)either for profit or non-profitthat produces goods or services under contract for the government. Some communities are largely sustained by government contracting activity; for instance, much of the economy of Northern Virginia consists of government contractors employed directly or indirectly by the federal government of the United States. Terminology Frequently a term public contractor is used to describe the government contractor. In ancient Rome, term publican was used for private individuals that performed work on public buildings, supplied Roman armies, or collected taxes. United Kingdom Section 12(2) and (3) of the Official Secrets Act 1989 define the expression "Government Contractor" for the purposes of that Act. United States The United States federal government seeks to select contractors in a way that is fair to all and promotes the free market system. Contrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Failure
In neoclassical economics, market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not Pareto efficient, often leading to a net loss of economic value.Paul Krugman and Robin Wells Krugman, Robin Wells (2006). ''Economics'', New York, Worth Publishers. The first known use of the term by economists was in 1958,Francis M. Bator (1958). "The Anatomy of Market Failure," ''Quarterly Journal of Economics'', 72(3) pp351–379(press +). but the concept has been traced back to the Victorian writers John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick.Steven G. Medema (2007). "The Hesitant Hand: Mill, Sidgwick, and the Evolution of the Theory of Market Failure," ''History of Political Economy'', 39(3)pp. 331��358. 200Online Working Paper. Market failures are often associated with public goods, time-inconsistent preferences, Information asymmetry, information asymmetries, Market structure, failures of competition, principal–agent problems, externalities,Jean-Jacques L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corporate Welfare
Corporate welfare refers to government financial assistance, Subsidy, subsidies, tax breaks, or other favorable policies provided to private businesses or specific industries, ostensibly to promote economic growth, job creation, or other public benefits. This support can take various forms, including tax credits, tax deductions, tax exemptions, government contracts, preferential regulatory treatment, debt write-offs, public-private partnerships, bailout programs, discount schemes, deferrals, low-interest loans or loan guarantees, direct subsidies or public grants. The definition of corporate welfare spending, welfare is sometimes restricted to direct Subsidy, government subsidies of major corporations, excluding Tax avoidance, tax loopholes and all manner of Regulation, regulatory and trade decisions. Origin of term The term "corporate welfare" was reportedly coined in 1956 by Ralph Nader. Alternative adages "Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor" Believed to ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Capitalism
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital accumulation, centralized management and wage labor). The definition can also include the state dominance of corporatized government agencies (agencies organized using business-management practices) or of public companies (such as publicly listed corporations) in which the state has controlling shares. A state-capitalist country is one where the government controls the economy and essentially acts as a single huge corporation, extracting surplus value from the workforce in order to invest it in further production.Compare: This designation applies regardless of the political aims of the state, even if the state is nominally socialist. Some scholars argue that the economy of the Soviet Union and of the Eastern Bloc countries modeled after it, includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schools Of Economic Thought
In the history of economic thought, a school of economic thought is a group of economic thinkers who share or shared a mutual perspective on the way economies function. While economists do not always fit within particular schools, particularly in the modern era, classifying economists into schools of thought is common. Economic thought may be roughly divided into three phases: premodern ( Greco-Roman, Indian, Persian, Islamic, and Imperial Chinese), early modern (mercantilist, physiocrats) and modern (beginning with Adam Smith and classical economics in the late 18th century, and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Marxian economics in the mid 19th century). Systematic economic theory has been developed primarily since the beginning of what is termed the modern era. Currently, the great majority of economists follow an approach referred to as mainstream economics (sometimes called 'orthodox economics'). Economists generally specialize into either macroeconomics, broadly on the ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltwater And Freshwater Economics
In economics, the freshwater school (or sometimes sweetwater school) comprises US-based macroeconomists who, in the early 1970s, challenged the prevailing consensus in macroeconomics research. A key element of their approach was the argument that macroeconomics had to be dynamic and based on how individuals and institutions interact in markets and make decisions under uncertainty. This new approach was centered in the faculties of the University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Rochester. They were called the "freshwater school" because Chicago, Pittsburgh, Ithaca, Minneapolis, Madison, Rochester etc. are close to the North American Great Lakes. The established methodological approach to macroeconomic research was primarily defended by economists at the universities and other institutions near the east and west coasts of the United States. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crony Capitalism
Crony capitalism, sometimes also called simply cronyism, is a pejorative term used in political discourse to describe a situation in which businesses profit from a close relationship with state power, either through an anti-competitive regulatory environment, direct government largesse, or corruption. Examples given for crony capitalism include obtainment of permits, government grants, tax breaks, or other undue influence from businesses over the state's deployment of public goods, for example, mining concessions for primary commodities or contracts for public works. In other words, it is used to describe a situation where businesses thrive not as a result of free enterprise, but rather collusion between a business class and the political class. Wealth is then accumulated not merely by making a profit in the market, but through profiteering by rent seeking using this monopoly or oligopoly. Entrepreneurship and innovative practices that seek to reward risk are stifled sin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
