Consumer sovereignty is a characteristic feature of which type of economy?
- A.Socialist economy
- B.Capitalist economy
- C.Command economy
- D.Closed economy
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, a capitalist economy. Consumer sovereignty means that the spending of consumers decides what is produced: a producer who makes what buyers do not want earns no profit and leaves the business, so in a market economy the consumer is said to rule. Option A is wrong because in a socialist economy the plan decides the pattern of output and the consumer takes what is supplied, which is why the loss of choice is a standard criticism of such systems. Option C is wrong for the same reason, a command economy being another name for the centrally planned one. Option D is wrong because a closed economy is one that does not trade with other countries, a matter of external relations and not of who decides production at home.
Read the full article: Types of Economies: Capitalist, Socialist and Mixed
Practice Questions
View allIn a capitalist economy, what mainly decides which goods will be produced?
- A.A five year plan prepared by the state
- B.The price mechanism and the profit motive
- C.The decisions of a central bank
- D.Orders of the planning authority
Show answer
In a capitalist or market economy the means of production are privately owned and nobody issues orders about production.
Read the full explanation →The book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which gave the idea of the invisible hand, was written by:
- A.Karl Marx
- B.Adam Smith
- C.J. M. Keynes
- D.David Ricardo
Show answer
The Scottish economist published the Wealth of Nations in 1776 and is called the father of economics; he argued that if each person pursues his own interest in a free market, an invisible hand guides the outcome to the good of society, which became the classic defence of capitalism and…
Read the full explanation →An economy in which the public sector and the private sector exist side by side is called:
- A.Capitalist economy
- B.Socialist economy
- C.Mixed economy
- D.Command economy
Show answer
In such an economy the state owns and runs the industries that need very large capital or serve strategic and social purposes, regulates the rest by law, and leaves ordinary production to private enterprise, while keeping responsibility for welfare and employment.
Read the full explanation →Das Kapital, one of the foundation texts of socialist economics, was written by:
- A.Friedrich Engels
- B.Karl Marx
- C.Robert Owen
- D.V. I. Lenin
Show answer
Marx published the first volume of Das Kapital in 1867; it analysed capital, surplus value and the exploitation of labour and became the basic text of what is called scientific socialism.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following is not one of the central problems of an economy?
- A.What to produce
- B.How to produce
- C.For whom to produce
- D.Who will rule the country
Show answer
Because resources are scarce and wants are unlimited, every economy must answer three questions, and these are called its central problems: what goods and in what quantity to produce, how to produce them, that is by which technique and combination of labour and capital, and for whom to produce, that…
Read the full explanation →