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Economic “-ism” Introduction. A Crash Course. Feudalism. Relationships between the landowner and the serfs Serfs bound to the land Landowner gives protection in exchange for work on the land No social movement Notable examples: Medieval Europe. Mercantilism.
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Economic “-ism” Introduction A Crash Course
Feudalism • Relationships between the landowner and the serfs • Serfs bound to the land • Landowner gives protection in exchange for work on the land • No social movement • Notable examples: Medieval Europe
Mercantilism • Government controls foreign trade • Ensures prosperity and security of a state • Drove colonial expansion • No export of specie (gold, silver, etc.) • Notable examples: Imperialist Western Europe, i.e. France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain
Capitalism • First theorist, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Free market (laissez-faire) economies are more beneficial and productive for societies • Means of production are privately owned and operated for profit • Notable Examples: United States, Great Britain, Japan, Republic of Korea (each with elements of socialism)
Communism • First theorists, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto • Aims for a classless and stateless society • Communal ownership of the means of production • Free access to all • No wage labor and no private property • Proletariat (working class) will rise up and overthrow the bourgeoisie (middle and aristocratic class) • Notable examples: Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, People’s Republic of China (officially), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (founding ideology, rejected now)
Socialism • Means of production can be state owned or commonly owned, controlled cooperatively • Production for use, economic inputs for economic demands and human needs • Goods sold through markets • Income distributed through individual merit/individual contribution • Centrally planned economies directed by a single-party state that owns the means of production • Some experiments with state ownership models and free market exchange and free price system (China in the late 70s to the present) • Notable examples: Scandinavian countries, many western European countries
Two Cows • Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. • Communism: You have two cows. You give them to the government, and the government gives you milk. • Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. • Naziism: You have two cows. The government shoots you and takes the cows.