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Planned Economy and Socialism

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Planned Economy and Socialism Planned Economy is an economic system whereby decisions concerning investment and production become configured in a plan formulated by a central authority. Central planning justify that the consolidation of economic resources plays a vital role by allowing the economy to take advantage of ideal information. This takes place during the decision-making process for production and investment. In planned economy, the central economic planning by the government controls all sectors of economy and formulates all decisions concerning resource allocation and use. It is the duty of the planners to decide what to produce and make directions to the lower level enterprises to produce goods taking care of national and social objectives. A planned economy consists of private enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and cooperative enterprises. Therefore, planned economy is an economic system whereby the government controls and regulates production, distribution, and pricing. Conversely, socialism is an economic system characterized by control of the cooperative management and the means of production (Lavigne, 1991). This economic system combines cooperative ownership, direct state ownership, and common owner. In addition, it focuses on the production, which meets human needs and economic demand. This implies that goods and services produced are for direct use rather, not for capital accumulation or private profit. Furthermore, socialism advocates for public rather than private control or ownership of property and natural resources. This implies that socialism is a planned economy whereby the government control all the production means. Therefore, planned economy takes place only under socialism economic system. This forms the basis of the existing relationship between planned economy and socialism. They both work hand in hand in ensuring sound decisions for production and investment. Reference
Lavigne, M. (1991). International political economy and socialism. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.

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