Goals of the U.S. Economy

1. Economic Freedom– Maintaining freedom of choice in the

marketplace• Choose:– How to spend $– What to buy– Choose jobs– Change jobs– Join a union– When, where, and how to invest or save $

2. Economic Efficiency– Deals with efforts to make the best use of scarce

resources

3. Economic Equity (Justice)– Deals with the question of fairness and right vs.

wrong– Tries to ensure that members of society share in

the benefits and costs as equally as possible

4. Economic Security– A nation’s effort to protect its members from

poverty, business and bank failures, medical emergencies, and other events that would hurt the economic well-being of citizens and the nation• Gov’t providing unemployment comp., insuring banks,

providing assistance to business, etc.• Individuals buying insurance

5. Economic Stability– Achieving full employment and stable prices

6. Economic Growth– Efforts to increase the amount of goods and services

produced by each worker in the economy• Standard of living: economic well being of people which is

measured by how much the average person can consume in a given time.

ECONOMIC GOALS ARE OFTEN IN CONFLICT WITH ONE ANOTHER!!