What Are The Four Economies?

“Ecological harmony is a nonmarket value that takes a collective will to achieve.”

– Donald Worster — Wealth of Nature: Environmental History and the Ecological Imagination

Economics 101 teaches that there are four basic types of economic systems: the Traditional Economic System, the Command Economic System, the (Free) Market Economic System, and the Mixed Economic System. While it’s important to look at each one to see how humans have developed the civilization we’re dealing with, beyond the systems we’ve created, there are three types of economies that don’t usually get discussed in the classroom, but must be brought to light and considered.

When we think of primitive cultures, or second and third world countries, we see Traditional Economic Systems at work. They’re fairly sustainable in that they’re largely concerned with just developing enough for everyone to get by and have a relatively low environmental footprint as compared to other economic systems. People have roles they play and tasks they perform, but they are much less regimented than other economic systems, and people generally have more free time, but fewer entertainment luxuries to fill it with.

A Command Economic System is when the state runs things, as in communist Russia or China. When the government owns the means of production, the roles and tasks become jobs people must work in order to be provided for by the government. On the downside, there’s not a lot of room for individuality or incentive for innovation, but…