Текст для экономистов

     Throughout history, every society has faced the fundamental economic problem of deciding what to produce, and for whom, in a world of limited resources. In the 20th century, two competing economic systems, broadly speaking, have provided very different answers: command economies directed by a centralized government, and market economies based on private enterprise. Today it is clear that, for people throughout the world, the central, command economy model has failed to sustain economic growth, to achieve a measure of prosperity, or even to provide economic security for its citizens.

     Market economies are decentralized, flexible, practical and changeable. The central fact about market economies is that there is no center. Indeed, one of the founding metaphors for the private marketplace is that of the "invisible hand."

     Market economies may be practical, but they also rest upon the fundamental principle of individual freedom: freedom as a consumer to choose among competing products and services; freedom as a producer to start or expand a business and share its risks and rewards; freedom as a worker to choose a job or career, join a labor union or change employers.

     Market economies are not without their inequities and abuses — many of them serious — but it is also undeniable that modern private enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with political democracy, offers the best prospect for preserving freedom and providing the widest avenues for economic growth and prosperity for all.

     In command economies, government committees of economic planners, production experts and political officials establish production levels for these goods and designate which factories will produce them. The central planning committees also establish the prices as well as the wages for the workers. It is this set of central decisions that determines the quantity, variety and prices of clothing and other products.

As the number of people living in the command economies increase, along with the number and sophistication of new products, it becomes harder and harder for central planners to avoid or eliminate shortages of the many things consumers want — or surpluses of the products they don't.

     This phenomenon doesn't happen in the market economies, because that kind of economic system works in a very different way.

     Market economies provide no magic solutions, however, and government plays a critical role in helping correct problems that can't be fully solved by a system of private markets. Moreover, market economies are by no means immune to pressing public policy issues in today's global economy — issues such as inflation, unemployment, pollution, poverty and barriers to international trade. Nevertheless, in comparison to the chronic shortages and inherent inefficiencies of command economies, a free-market economic system offers greater opportunities for economic growth, technological progress and prosperity.

Consumers in both market and command economies make manv of the same kinds of decisions: thev buy food, clothing, housing, transportation and entertainment up to the limits of their budgets, and wish thev could afford to buy more. But consumers play a much more important role in the overall working of a market economy than they do in a command economy. In fact, market economies are sometimes described as systems of consumer sovereignty, because the day-to-day spending decisions by consumers determine, to a very large extent, what goods and services are produced in the economy.

     To summarize: whether consumers are young or old; male or female; rich, poor, or middle class; every dollar, peso, pound, franc, rupee, mark or yen they spend is a signal — a kind of economic vote telling producers what goods and services they want to see produced.

     Consumer spending represents the basic source of demand for products sold in the marketplace, which is half of what determines the market prices for goods and services. The other half is based on decisions businesses make about what to produce and how to produce it.