Hyun Supplee
BUSN 115
05/06/2014
Week One Homework I believe the command economy would be the best choice in dealing with a crisis. In a Command economy raw materials and goods are controlled by a central form of authority or a government body. The government body controls the raw materials dictating different prices they feel to be just. The thought in a command economy is that it is better to have the nation’s government control the market instead of the people who would be only interested in personnel gain. If a crisis were to occur the command economy would be the fastest to respond to the threat. Since the government has controlling power over the goods any resource needed to fix the problem could be easily moved. With other economies it might take a while to get the necessary resources from the many different people controlling them. In a command economy the government also has the added power of offering incentives to workers that help with relief. For example a worker in a command economy could be offered better housing or pay incentives to help others.
In terms of handling a crisis I believe that a socialist system would be the best prepared to handle the situation. In a socialist system the community works together and creates products that everyone needs. Everyone working in the community is working to better benefit the health of the society and the people living there. The trash man and lawyer both get paid the same amount of money because the view is that both jobs are equally important to the society. In a capitalist society products and goods are made to turn a profit. In a capitalist society there is a kind of competition going on between the different jobs that can be worked. Whatever the society needs creates a demand for service and whoever can provide said service generally ends up getting paid more. A crisis is an event that can happen spontaneously and without warning for example, in 2010 in Haiti when a gigantic earthquake devastated people’s lives leaving many without basic essentials the socialist society would have been first to respond. The socialist society would have had a team dedicated to disaster relief, a team that could quickly respond to the problems faced when a natural disaster hits. A socialist society holds no precedence when it comes to the different jobs that are available. No one job has the opportunity to make more money so disaster relief squad in a socialist society would be full of active participates. Maybe even in a socialist society the people working in the disaster relief squad would even get paid when not responding to a threat but instead just for being on constant guard. In the capitalist society the demand for a disaster relief squad is low because of the rare occurrences that the natural disaster actually takes place. People living in a capitalist society wouldn’t natural flock to a disaster relief squad job because there is little money to be made.
During the winter a lot of people use gas furnaces to heat their homes to keep themselves warm over the course of the season. Gas is controlled by big gas distribution companies all around the U.S. as more and more people start to use more and more gas to heat their homes the gas distribution companies take notice. Seeing the demand for the resource go up the gas companies raise their prices. As long as there is a need for the resource by the people the gas distribution companies can get away with price increases for profit. The demand for the natural resource goes up in the winter because everyone is using more of the resource. At the same time the more and more gas the people use creates less of a supply for the distribution companies. As the stock of the resource goes down the item becomes a rarity the limited amount becomes more valuable.

Works Citied 1. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica (2007) Command Economy http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127708/command-economy