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The Role of the Government in the Economy Essay

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The appropriate role of government in the economy consists of six major functions of interventions in the markets economy. Governments provide the legal and social framework, maintain competition, provide public goods and services, national defense, income and social welfare, correct for externalities, and stabilize the economy. The government also provides polices that help support the functioning of markets and policies to correct situations when the market fails. As well as, guiding the overall pace of economic activity, attempting to maintain steady growth, high levels of employment, and price stability. By applying the fiscal policy which adjusts spending and tax rates or monetary policy which manage the money supply and control the …show more content…

Private businesses could not sell national defense to citizens and continue to stay in business, therefore is considered to be a public good. Selling defense services to those who are willing to pay for it and protecting them and not protecting those who refuse to contribute paying, could not be possible by any means. These individuals are considered as "free riders," which will not generally pay for something they can get free. That is the foremost reason national defense must be administered by the government and paid for through taxes. Unfortunately some people do not have the ability to earn a living in a market economy. Others benefit from inherited wealth, hard dedicating work, or owning their business. Governments in market economies inevitably engage in programs that redistribute income, and they often do so with the overt intention of making tax policies. On the other hand, advocates of extensive redistribution disagree and allege that role of government limits the concentration of wealth and maintains a wider diffusion of economic power among households, presently as antitrust laws are designed to maintain competition and a wider diffusion of power and resources among producers. Those who oppose major redistribution programs counter that additional taxes on high-income families decrease the incentives

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