Expository Essay

 Mixed Economy

The majority of economies on Earth is a combination of the government control and individual freedom. The United States of America is one of the most noticeable examples of a mixed economy in the world. Economics ranging from the U.S. to Cuba have been termed mixed economies. Mixed economy is an economy that includes a variety of private and government control, that is a mixture of capitalism and socialism and it is a major economy in the world. Mixed economy positively influences the citizens by giving people individual freedom along with government involvement which protects the people through public services.

There’s an advantage of having the government involved. The government protects its citizens through public services and provides a social safety net through ways such as Social Security and unemployment benefits. The government tests items before being marketed. For example, the USDA tests food before being marketed. Another example is the FDA; they must test and approve a drug or chemical before being marketed. The government also protects individuals’ rights in order for individuals to benefit from living together. There are many ways for the government to protect its citizens; it sets up laws because that’s its duty to stable the society. That’s one of the most important roles of the government. The government may run public services to help the citizens, like the postal service, rail lines, libraries, and in some cases, the health care service. The government in a mixed economy helps the citizens through public services and also protects them with laws.

                In a mixed economy, individuals can help guide the economy not only through the choices they make as consumers but through the votes they cast for the official’s who shape economy policy. A mixed economy offers great freedom. These include the freedom to buy, to sell, to possess, and to hire. Mixed economic freedom allows for a higher standard of living and better work wages. The people in the market economy work hard but get paid with less salary. The head always wants to reduce the cost of products and the amount of money the head need to pay his or her employees. For example, employees in Vietnam get paid less than employees in the U.S. In the mixed economy, the head cannot force the people to work hard because they are protected by the government. Furthermore, if a candidate runs for a government position, he or she needs the votes from the citizens. He or she needs to encourage people that if he or she becomes a president, that person must give out policies to increase salary, health care systems, public services, etc. That will increase the standard of living in a mixed economy. For the wages that the citizens earn, the benefit of mixed economy is to use the best things of the market society. With the market side, people could earn high profit if they have right policies in business. Nonetheless, mixed economy also brings back higher unemployment rate because some people depend on the welfare system of the government. The freedoms in the economic activities are influenced by the government's regulation.

For a mixed economy to work well, it must have strong laws to protect the citizens from the greed of the market economy. From the story The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez, “‘Here comes the school bus,’ Roberto whispered loudly in alarm. Instinctively, Roberto and I ran and hid in the vineyards.” In the market economy, people only make decisions for the profit gain. This is the capitalist side of a mixed economy; individuals could make their own profits. Roberto and Francisco in the quote above suppose to go to school. Instead, they skip school to go to work for more money. That encourages the government to be stronger to solve problems when the citizens are not obeyed the rules that the government makes to protect people. It is also a positive effect because if the citizens do this, they increase the profit a mixed economy earns a year by working more. Consequently, the market side of a mixed economy positively affects the people and engages them to work more for a higher benefit which stimulate the government to think of solutions when the citizens are not enforcing the policies. Besides, the citizens also help the economy to grow and earn more profits.

In brief, mixed economy gives the citizens freedom and protection from the government. Command economies negatively manipulate countries around the world by making unreasonable decisions. Market economies allow people to freely decide and enrich themselves. However, market economy could cause greed to people by making them want to work more to gain profits without any educational purpose. The relative strength or weakness of each component of economies around the world can vary greatly between countries. Mixed economy is the most effective economy because everything happening is evenly distributed into roles.