Economic system in which the principal means of production, distribution, and exchange are in private (individual or corporate) hands and competitively operated for profit. A
mixed economy combines the private enterprise of capitalism and a degree of state monopoly, as in nationalized industries and welfare services.
Most capitalist economies are actually mixed economies, but some (such as the US and Japanese) have a greater share of the economy devoted to
free enterprise.
© RM 2012. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.