market economies in Western culture

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The fundamental problem in economics throughout time has been what to produce and how much of it to produce. All resources are scarce. As I am sure you have heard time and time again in economics courses that scarcity is what drives economics. In the 20th century the problem of what, for whom, and how much to produce has been addressed by two "solutions". The first solution has been "command" economies and the second has been "market" economies. Command economies are those that are "directed by a government". Market economies are driven by private enterprise. By the end of the twentieth century it has become clear that the central command economy model has not provided sustained economic growth or prosperity (or even a basic level of ...