Economic Goals

Economic Freedoms

Freedom to make economic decisions. Freedom to choose occupations, employers, and uses of money. Business owners like the freedom to choose when, where, and what they produce.

Full Employment

Income by producing goods and services for others. Without jobs, people cannot support themselves or their families nor can they produce output for others. As a result, most people want their economic system to provide as many jobs as possible. The goal of full employment even became law when congress passed the Employment Act of 1946 in an effort to avoid the widespread joblessness that the country faced in the Great Depression.

Economic Equity

Justice, impartiality, and fairness of economics. Belief in equal pay for equal work. Illegal to discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, or disability in employment.

Minimum Wage

Lowest legal wage that can be paid to most workers.

Economic Security (Social Security, Medicare)

Protection from economic events such as layoffs and illnesses, injuries, or disabilities prevent people from being able to work. Many states have set up unemployment compensation programs to help workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Congress set up Social Security - a federal program of disability and retirement benefits that covers most working people. Medicare, a federal health insurance program for senior citizens, regardless of income, is another program that provides economic security to elderly Americans.

Economic Efficiency

Resources that are scarce; therefore, factors of production must be used wisely. If resources are wasted, fewer goods and services can be produced, fewer wants and needs can be satisfied, and fewer resources can be left for future generations. Economic decisions making needs to be efficient.

Price Stability (Inflation, Fixed Income)

Stable prices is the goal. Inflation - a rise in the general level of prices - occurs, workers need more money to pay for food, clothing, and shelter. Fixed income - an income that does not increase over time, even though prices do - find that bills are harder to pay and planning for the future is more difficult. High rates of inflation can even discourage business activity.

Economic Growth

A major goal of most Americans is economic growth. Most people hope to have a better job, a newer car, their own home, and a number of other things in the future. Overall growth enables more people to have more goods and services. Because the nation's population is likely to increase, economic growth is necessary to meet everyone's needs.