A type of economy, or economic system, based on--(1) government, rather than individual, ownership of many resources, especially those like heavy manufacturing, energy reserves, widely used raw materials (lumber, steel), and transportation systems, that are deemed critical to the operation of the economy; (2) answering three questions of allocation with a combination of central planning by government and decentralized decision-making by individual factories and the owners of non-critical resources; (3) the limited use of markets to exchange farm products and retail consumer goods; (4) economic and monetary incentives, such as bonuses, paid to the workers of government-owned facilities to encourage efficiency and increased productivity.

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How often has this happened to you? You've packed a tasty picnic lunch, donned your spiffy-looking swimwear, loaded up the beach blanket and umbrella, then headed for the artificial waves of the local Happy-Time Gala-World Fun-Land Water Park expecting bright sunshine and warm temperatures. However, upon reaching Happy-Time Gala-World Fun-Land Water Park you find that the economy has fallen into a deep recession, with high unemployment rates and sluggish production, and the owners of the Happy-Time Gala-World Fun-Land Water Park have been forced to turn off the artificial wave machine, dismantle the water slides, and drain the pool. (It's also raining and 50 degrees. We will, however, ignore those problems because this isn't A Pedestrian's Guide to Meteorology.)
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time browsing through a long list of dot com websites trying to buy either a 50-foot blue garden hose or a turbo-powered vacuum cleaner. Be on the lookout for small children selling products door-to-door.
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This isn't me! What am I?

-- Helen Keller, author, lecturer

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