Economic Systems (Esvanovia)
An economic system, or economic order, is a system of inter-related networks of production, resource allocation, and resource distribution for goods and services within an societal structure. The general understanding of economic system-structures is in relation to the institutions and consumption processes that said society manages these matters with. Economic systems are a part of the general conception of a social system, and are connected to said societies understanding of modes of production. Economic systems must deal with four fundamental questions: the amount of goods to be produced, the individuals responsible for the production of goods, and who is to benefit from their production.
The study of economic systems primarily relates to how information and activity flows between related institutions and the general sphere of society, with much research being dedicated to the understanding of the dichotomy between worker-driven ("Bottom-Up") and state-driven economic planning ("Top-Down") systems, with most economies falling generally within the middle of such a divide - through mixed-modes of production and organization of economic interaction. While the traditional dichotomy is between these two conceptions, many definitions of economics have evolved to escape that divide, instead focusing on greater openness to models outside of such.
The dominant organizational system of modern economies is a mixed system based on market-oriented private businesses backed by state-owned utility services, although corporatistic and Lorist based economic systems also make up a sizable number. Ideologies are often associated with economic alignment, such as Pan-Hiakemirism with the corporatistic model of the majority of Kāichrén state-entities.
Main Types
State Minimalism
Under the general conception of economic systems, State Minimalism (also sometimes rendered as "Liberalism" or as the "Anagonian System") is based on the principles that greater influence of market systems in realms traditionally handled by the state, such as energy or healthcare will lead to greater prosperity in relation to such. Followers of State Minimalism tend to advocate for free trade and global economic integration, owing to a belief in the concept of comparative advantage in regards to economic fields.
This ideology is most associated with Anagonia, owing to a historic inclination under the system of federation towards lesser federal presence in the operation of subordinate state economics. Other pracitioners of this ideology are generally associated with Anagonia to some degree, whether that be through geographic or political closeness. Additionally notable for attempting to enact principles of this ideology are the Liberal Party in Meridon, the Furaingu Suparō Zaidan KDS exile organization, and a number of other parties and groupings of note. Opposition to State Minimalism is primarily rooted in a lack of trust for corporate entities, and the belief that key services are safer and easier to access when in the hands of an organized governmental entity, alongside those who subscribe to economic theories of protectionism and other anti-global economic and political theories.
Under the model of State Minimalism, particularly as practiced in Anagonia, the government adopts a dual role as both a market participant and a facilitator of economic growth. Unlike traditional models where the government exerts control over key industries or services, State Minimalism allows the government to actively engage in the market by operating businesses that compete alongside private enterprises. For instance, the Anagonian government runs and manages several key sectors, such as logistics and postal services, which are also serviced by private companies. This competition between the public and private sectors serves as a mechanism to ensure that both sectors remain efficient and profitable, with the government providing incentives through competition rather than regulation.
In addition to its role as a market competitor, the government in Anagonia continues to provide critical infrastructure services, such as water, sewer, and power. These essential services are maintained by state-operated entities to ensure reliability and universal access. However, in sectors like power, private industry also plays a significant role, offering alternative options and contributing to the overall infrastructure. This coexistence of state and private services allows for a robust and diversified approach to meeting the nation's needs, with the government stepping in when necessary to guarantee that these vital services remain affordable and accessible to all citizens.
This approach has several implications for the economy and society. First, it ensures that critical services remain accessible and affordable, as the government can step in to provide these services at competitive rates. Second, it fosters innovation and efficiency in both the public and private sectors, as they strive to outcompete each other. Lastly, it offers citizens a choice between public and private services, allowing for a more diverse and resilient market. However, this model also faces challenges, particularly in balancing the government's dual role as both a competitor and a regulator, which can sometimes lead to conflicts of interest or market distortions.
While State Minimalism is primarily focused to the economic right, variants of such taking a more anarchistic-communal perspective on the matter do exist, primarily focused on the development of communal separatism from overall guiding economic systems until said systems collapse, where they can then be replaced by the communal systems already developed. This primarily applies to Isaoism and related concepts, but is notable in a number of anarchist-adjacent movements.
Mixed Economics
There is no set definition for what a mixed economy is - with ideologies from corporatism to Lorism technically following or being variants of such. On a theoretical level it refers to an ideology or economic system mixing the principles of state-private ownership, economic planning vs market organization, and state interventionism vs state minimalism. In practice, the vast majority of Mixed Economies trend towards favoring market principles - with states like Meridon, which operate primarily private services, but possess systems which directly invoke state intervention such as healthcare (a recent development, in the case of Meridon). Notable systems which invoke mixed economics are:
- Janpian Lorism
- Haneism
- Social Capitalism (Aquilinia)
- Sukoism (While primarily a school of industrial thought, Sukoist movements have also advocated for mixed economics historically)
- TBA?
Lorist Economics
Lorist Economics, as a development of the ideology of Lorism, are based upon the same key principles - worker direction in economic planning and state affairs based on regulated market systems working in equality with the state entity to provide the best results for the population. Lorism is generally considered a branching path of mixed-economics, owing to similarities in the theoretical conception but highly diverging results in the practicing of such. Of the currently existing Lorist states, all three (Azura, Janpia, and the Mahdah Lorist Respublika) have exhibited growing populations and generally successful economic activities, with only the MLR being an exception on the matter of economic growth owing to the ongoing Aureumterran blockade.
Lorism is a highly self-divergent ideology, owing to differing conceptions of how to implement such and the lack of promotion of a strict ideological political line by the Lorist Internazionale.
State Partism
State Partism, also known as Corporatism, is a divergent system based on an ultimately-statist interpretation of the mixed-economic model, primarily made manifest in the République Autonome d’Arcadie, Seuria, and the Kāichrén states located upon the Nán Yánshēn, although many conceptions of modern Partism are associated with Neo-Korea. Partism is primarily based on the theory that state direction of economic affairs through the guiding body of either state-corporate entities (such as the Iminchebol), through State Unions (such as in Arcadie), or through direct administration of industries by member of the dominant political party of the state (as in Seuria and the KDS). While technically qualifying as a subset of mixed-economic systems, it is generally considered as a branching path from such - owing to differing understandings of the state role in the direct collection of profit, and said state's interlinking with the economic industries not directly relating to such.
Partism is also the primary economic theory to advocate for direct planning by the state in the realm of economic affairs, primarily manifested through the utilization of administrative periods of years-long economic planning and, in the modern period, digital administration of industries to provide accurate data. Planning under Partism is primarily focused on the production of goods based on the principles of economic demand, with this fulfillment being more important than the acquisition of direct profit.
Neo-Korea was the first modern state to totally abolish internal utilization of currency under the direction of its interpretation of Partist economics, instead operating off the direct provision of home, food, and other key resources to the population in exchange for labor. While retaining a surplus of Anagonian Denar for the purposes of foreign trade, it prefers to trade in raw material or processed goods.
Typology
The fundamental basis of an economic system is, as mentioned, how it deals with the four fundamental economic questions, and the differences in how those questions are answered is how they are generally classified. Fundamentally, as a part of a greater societal system, the goals of economic development are fundamentally linked to the values of the state, and how it determines what concepts (such as liberty, growth, so on) are crucial to the understanding of economics, and which ones are of a more minor character. Economic systems are segmented based on a number of variables, with the most common being the above-mentioned Bottom-Up vs Top-Down subject of debate.
Additional sources of distinction are with regards to state planning (in a capital system or otherwise) vs market allocation, class processes within said economic system, and the presence or lackthereof of currency for internal utilization. The difference between systems can often be summed up in the difference between whether production is carried out for profit, or if it is carried out on the basis of need.
By Resource Allocation
Generally, this sort of determination is based on the means of how resource allocation methods are handled, and comprises the vast majority of "modern" economies.
- State Minimalism (As defined above, although in the context of resource allocation being the main source of differentiation, can also include systems which have desires for the abolishment of any state role in the market system, or which do not desire the existence of any form of state entity)
- Mixed Economics (As defined above, although for the purposes of determining by resource allocation Lorism is folded into such a definition entirely)
- State Partism (As defined above, also sometimes referred to as "Controlled Economics" - for the purposes of categorization, this can technically include communal-collective or Participatory Economic movements which do not exist within an overall state entity, owing to the replacement of the state planning role with that of the communal-planning role)
Other types also exist, primarily relating to systems developed before the conventional understanding of modern economics was formed.
- Subsistence Economics
- Gift / Barter Economics (Wherein exchange occurs either without direct / explicit confirmation of future rewards or profits, or where exchange occurs directly in exchange for said rewards or profits - combined together owing to the unstated social expectation in the case of gift economics that said exchange would occur at a later period)
- Post-Scarcity Economics (Wherein scarcity does not exist)
By Ideology
Religious Economics, or economics based on the particular moral characteristics and theophilosophy of a certain faith:
Anarchist strains of economic-ideological thought tend to be organized around the expectation of the abolishment of a state and the planning structures therewithal - but excluding those which fall under State Minimalism, are distinct from the vast majority of other economic ideologies. These strains of thought include:
- Right-Wing Anarchism
- Left-Wing Anarchism