What Extent Should Government Intervene in the Economy?

An economic system is an organized approach to producing and distributing goods and services. It is an organize way to answer the three economic questions of what, how and to whom to produce. Although every country must have an economic system to answer these three economic questions, their method of producing and distributing largely depends on the country's historical experience, form of government, objectives and ideologies. To some people, government intervention in the economy are consider significant to protect against the worst elements of capitalism while others think that such regulations are unnecessary invasions of their freedoms. To what extend should the government get involve in the economy. The government should take a limited role in the economy while allowing private enterprises because such involvement would eliminate the negative aspects of capitalism while adopting the positiveness of Socialism. This would benefit the economy in variety of ways. Firstly, government regulations allow businesses to remain in the private hands while removing some of the worst abuses of pure capitalism. Secondly, a government intervention protects the consumers, producers, and the community as a whole. Finally, limited government involvement prevents crises such as inflation, unemployment and depression.
The nineteenth century period was a memorable period in the history of human kind. The Industrial Revolution transformed society from an agricultural to a mechanized society. The output of production increased enormously thus creating a substantial amount of jobs. Although the economy was drastically affected by the increasing industrialization; many people were horrified at the evils of the Industrial Revolution. It was this period of time when new ideas and philosophies began to emerge regarding the government intervention. For example; the Liberal ideology was reform and transformed by John Stuart Mill. Initially, many supported Adam smith's Lassez-faire