Mixed Economicism

Mixed Economicism, also spelled Mixed Economism, is the ideology advocating for a mixed economy, or an economy that contains both free markets and state intervention. Mixed Economism holds that this is a good balance of capitalism and socialism, which leads to common prosperity.

It is not really affiliated with any quadrant on the political compass, but is never radically left, radically right, or radically libertarian.

Definition

While there is no single all-encompassing definition of a mixed economy, there are generally two major definitions, one being political and the other apolitical. The political definition of a mixed economy refers to the degree of state interventionism in a market economy, portraying the state as encroaching onto the market under the assumption that the market is the natural mechanism for allocating resources. The political definition is limited to capitalistic economies and precludes an extension to non-capitalist systems, and aims to measure the degree of state influence through public policies in the market.

The apolitical definition relates to patterns of ownership and management of economic enterprises in an economy, strictly referring to a mix of public and private ownership of enterprises in the economy and is unconcerned with political forms and public policy. Alternatively, it refers to a mixture of economic planning and markets for the allocation of resources.

History

The term mixed economy arose in the context of political debate in the United Kingdom in the postwar period, although the set of policies later associated with the term had been advocated from at least the 1930s. The oldest documented mixed economies in the historical record are found as early as the 4th millennium BC in the Ancient Mesopotamian civilization in city-states such as Uruk and Ebla. The economies of the Ancient Greek city-states can also best be characterized as mixed economies. It is also possible that the Phoenician city-states depended on mixed economies to manage trade. Before being conquered by the Roman Republic, the Etruscan civilization engaged in a "strong mixed economy". In general, the cities of the Ancient Mediterranean in regions such as North Africa, Iberia, and Southern France, among others, all practiced some form of a mixed economy. According to the historians Michael Rostovtzeff and Pierre Lévêque, the economies of Ancient Egypt, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican, Ancient Peru, Ancient China, and the Roman Empire after Diocletian all had the basic characteristics of mixed economies. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire in its eastern part continued to have a mixed economy until its destruction by the Ottoman Empire.

Medieval Islamic societies drew their primary material basis from the classical Mediterranean mixed economies that preceded them, and the economies of Islamic empires such as the Abbasid Caliphate dealt with their emerging, prominent capitalistic sectors or market economies through regulation via state, social, or religious institutions. Due to having low, diffuse populations, and disconnected trade, the economies of Europe could not have supported centralized states or mixed economies and instead a primarily agrarian feudalism predominated for the centuries following the collapse of Rome. With the recovery of populations and the rise of medieval communes from the 11th century onward, economic and political power once again became centralized. According to Murray Bookchin, mixed economies, which had grown out of the medieval communes, were beginning to emerge in Europe by the 15th century as feudalism declined. In 17th-century France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert acting as finance minister for Louis XIV attempted to institute a mixed economy on a national scale.

The American System initially proposed by the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, and supported by later American leaders such as Henry Clay, John C Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, exhibited the traits of a mixed economy combining protectionism, laissez-faire, and infrastructure spending. After 1851, Napoleon III began the process of replacing the old agricultural economy of France with one that was mixed and focused on industrialization. By 1914 and the start of World War I, Germany had developed a mixed economy with government co-ownership of infrastructure and industry along with a comprehensive social welfare system. After the 1929 stock crash and subsequent Great Depression threw much of the global economy into a severe economic decline, British economists such as John Maynard Keynes began to advocate for economic theories that argued more government intervention in the economy. Harold Macmillan, a British politician in the Conservative Party, also began to advocate for a mixed economy in his books Reconstruction (1933) and The Middle Way (1938). Supporters of the mixed economy included R. H. Tawney, Anthony Crosland, and Andrew Shonfield, who were mostly associated with the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. During the post-war period and coinciding with the Golden Age of Capitalism, there was general worldwide rejection of laissez-faire economics as capitalist countries embraced mixed economies founded on economic planning, intervention, and welfare.

Relationships

Rational Economists (Friends)

• Pragmatism - I am literally you but for economics.
• Market Economy - Let the markets run their course, and let the citizens buy what they want.
• Regulationism - Can't let the markets run too free, the state must intervene!
• Social Capitalism - You get it!
• Paternalistic Conservatism - You get it too!
• State Capitalism - You also get it!
• Keynesian School - YESSSSS!!!!!!
• Dengism - Best ideology!!!!!!
• Liberalism - Me but leaning a bit capitalist.
• Social Democracy - Me but leaning a bit socialist.
• Social Liberalism - Me but dead centrist.
• Third Way - Me but more neoliberal.
• Neo-Corporatism - Me but more corporatist.
• Nordic Model - Good implimentation of my beliefs.
• New Deal Liberalism - Also a good implimentation of my beliefs.
• Ordo-Liberalism - Another good implimentation of my beliefs.
• Regulated Market Socialism - Me if I was a socialist.
• Corporatocracy - Letting big corporations run the markets as well as the regulatory state is a pretty good solution, not gonna lie.

Frenemies

• Capitalism - Most of the time I am a form of you, but many of you are uncompromising. What do you mean I'm not a real capitalist?
• Socialism - Same as above, sometimes a little capitalism can be good for the working class. What do you mean I'm not a real socialist?
• Capitalist Communism - Me but on steroids.
• Planned Economy - The economy needs regulation, yes. But this is way too much.
• Chicago School - Me but leaning very capitalist.
• Neoliberalism - Me but leaning capitalist.
• State Socialism - Also me but leaning very socialist.
• Corporatism - You would be better if you didn't reject both capitalism and socialism, but instead incorporated them both.

Enemies

• Fascism - No! Don't just denounce both capitalism and socialism! You have to mix them together! Though historically, you guys were forms of me.
• Marxism - Pure socialism will lead to ruin!
• Austrian School - Pure capitalism will lead to ruin!
• Anti-Economism - Terrorist who wants everyone to suffer!

Further Information

Wikipedia

• Mixed Economy
• New Neoclassical Synthesis