Economy Assignment

With the help of your textbook and Ch 23, please explain the differences among capitalism, socialism and communism.   Then explain the pros and cons that each hold. 
Capitalism is usually called a free enterprise system in which is characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods. One advantage to capitalist countries is that the people benefit from companies who are in competition. In competition companies will compete to provide there customers with quality and low prices. One disadvantage would be a monopoly. Monopolies are usually uncommon anymore but they can still happen. A monopoly occurs when only one company sells a product and they can set the price to that product however high they want to.

Socialism is an economic and political philosophy based on the idea that the benifits of economic activity-wealth- should be equitably distributed throughout a society. One advantage is that everyone is supplied with basic needs, such as medicare. A disadvantage would be that socialist countries have a tendency to develop too many layers of bureaucracy. This complicates decision making and then there are too many unpredictable events.

Communism is calls for the collective ownership of land and other productive property. One advantage to communism is that the laborer of a product makes all the money, so if you made a product then you receive all the money. The disadvantage would be that the Communist Party holds the decision-making power in both the government and the economy.