Types of Economic Systems

An economic system is the way in which humankind has arranged for its material provisioning. One would think that there would be a great variety of such systems, corresponding to the many cultural arrangements that have characterized human society. Surprisingly, that is not the case. Although a wide range of institutions and social customs have been associated with the economic activities of society, only a very small number of basic modes of provisioning can be discovered beneath this variety.

Indeed, history has produced but three such kinds of economic systems: those based on the principle of tradition, those centrally planned and organized according to command, and the rather small number, historically speaking, in which the central organizing form is the market. So, societies can make their economic choices by the social process of tradition, the political process of command, or a market process which responds to the free actions of individuals and businesses and works through price mechanism.

All three of the processes (social, political and market) are at work to some extent in every society. The kind of economic system which exists in a society depends mostly on the relative importance of these three choice-making processes. According to them economists define a traditional economy, a command economy and a market economy.

There have always been disputes of what type of economy is the most efficient. In our diverse and multi-cultural world with societies of different development levels it is impossible to introduce the same model. Let's take, for example, a primitive society. Their main goal is to survive, so families, clans or tribes make economic decisions based on the traditions, customs and beliefs handed down from generation to generation and make up the type of system called a traditional economy, as they don't know any other ways. On a more advanced stage, where a society is being advanced but is still on the way to its benefit, certain control in order to keep social order is necessary. So the government decides what goods and services will be produced and how they will be distributed. And this is just what a command economy is. This type of economy may be considered socially just, but without any competitiveness it leads to stagnation and as a result to social dissatisfaction. So finally, the most proper type by now has seemed to be a market economy.