Economy: Planned economy or Free market?

Where the library sits on this axis

The 112 written profiles are each stored with one value for this axis, written by hand. These are the ones furthest toward either end, and the ones closest to the middle.

These are editorial readings of the positions, not measurements of any party, movement or voter, and every vector is open to disagreement. Every profile, all three sets →

The statements that measure this axis

The question bank holds 10 statements for economy: 5 coded so that agreement counts toward Free market, and 5 coded the other way, toward Planned economy. The Short version draws 3 of them, Standard 5 and Deep 10.

• “Prices set by supply and demand allocate resources better than any committee can.” agreeing counts toward Free market
• “Essential industries such as energy and water should be publicly owned.” agreeing counts toward Planned economy
• “Lower taxes and lighter regulation are the fastest route to prosperity.” agreeing counts toward Free market
• “Governments should direct investment towards the industries a country needs.” agreeing counts toward Planned economy
• “Competition between firms serves consumers better than state ownership does.” agreeing counts toward Free market
• “Some services are too important to be run for profit.” agreeing counts toward Planned economy
• “High minimum wages and powerful unions price young workers out of jobs.” agreeing counts toward Free market
• “The state has a duty to break up monopolies and limit concentrations of private wealth.” agreeing counts toward Planned economy
• “A country grows by letting failing businesses fail.” agreeing counts toward Free market
• “Strategic planning is more reliable than market luck when a crisis hits.” agreeing counts toward Planned economy

How this axis is scored

Each statement is answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. On this axis, 5 statements count agreement toward Free market and 5 count it toward Planned economy, so a run where you agree with everything does not drift to one end.

The two directions are averaged separately and then weighted equally, and the result is reported between −100 and +100: negative toward Planned economy, positive toward Free market. A statement you skip is not counted on this axis at all, so skipping never moves the score. Anything inside ±12 is recorded as centred rather than as a lean.

The same twelve values are what your result is matched against. How scoring works, in full →