Economic Systems, Emergency System, and Supply & Demand

Economic System Best Suited For a Crisis of Epic Proportions

I believe the best economic system suited for handling a crisis of epic proportion to be closer to that of a free-market system. In this system, “individuals and companies are largely free to decide what products to produce, how to produce them, whom to sell them to, and at what price to sell them” (Bovee C. & Thill J., 2013, p. 28). When a disaster occurs, it is usually the local citizens, law enforcement, and local government who are the first responders. If the free-market system is the one being utilized, capitalism is what tends to drive this economic structure. We are trusting that business owners and citizens are empathetic of other’s situations and willing to do what they can to aid in helping them. This allows the government’s main focus to direct workers and assist with the activity of the economy. A capitalist society is better equipped to handle these types of situations due to the fact they tend to have more resources and financial assistance in place to act to a disaster in a timely manner.

How a Socialist System Helps in an Emergency Situation

When speaking of a county that doesn’t have the money or the resources that other countries, such as the United States and China have for example, it may be in the best interest of the country and the people to belong to a socialist economy. Bovee & Thill (2013) define socialism as “a fairly high degree of government planning and some government ownership of capital resources” (p. 29). The type of resources the government tends to control is in industries that directly affect the common welfare of the community. Using the example of the earthquake in Haiti back in 2010, socialism could have prevented many of the deaths and destruction the community suffered. One of the problems with capitalism in poorer countries is that there is pressure to build quickly and safety sometimes gets ignored. The rich are able to bribe building inspectors to let them...