The topic is whether government should intervene in society concerning economic issues - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... In early American History, the Government refrained from controlling or intervening in the economy and accepted the “laissez-faire” doctrine or “survival of the fittest” ideology. The only government role was to maintain law and order. (U.S. Department of State). However, a gradual shift in this policy has been noticed since the turn of the 19th Century with the rising corruption in the Public Sector and to ensure fair competition in the marketplace. There was a lot of support on the theory of Keynesian macroeconomics, which led them to believe that the government should set goals and objectives for the economy as a whole. (Willamette Univ.). While it is important for the Government to partake in some economic activity directly such Taxation Policies, formulating and implementing rules or laws for fair trade and competition etc., and sometimes indirectly by monitoring economic activities through Economic institutions (e.g. Federal Bank deciding to increase or decrease Bank Rates); it becomes necessary for the economy to be given a free hand in order to flourish.
Often, government fixes prices on goods on services or labor, such as minimum and maximum prices, which may lead to aberrations in the economy. There may be shortages in the market which may arise if the government fixes prices below the prevailing market rate. Ex. Public healthcare being provided free may lead to long waiting lines for treatments (Higson). Government fixing prices can lead to Surpluses as well, which may be the outcome of prices being fixed above the market rate. In such a case, the supply will be more than the demand. For example guaranteeing a farmer a higher price than the market price encourages over production and gives rise to wastage. Similarly, minimum wages tend to lead to unemployment in the economy especially for unskilled labor when the wage rate is set above the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More