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command economy

Definition of Command Economy

(noun) An economic system in which most goods and services are primarily produced, distributed, and exchanged through a central authority such as a government and not subject to the laws of supply and demand.

Example of Command Economy

  • North Korea

Command Economy Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: com·mand e·con·o·my

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /kuh-mAnd i-kAHn-uh-mee/
  • British English – /kuh-mAHnd i-kOn-uh-mee/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /kəˈmænd ɪˈkɑnəmi/
  • British English – /kəˈmɑːnd i(ː)ˈkɒnəmi/

Usage Notes

  • Plural: command economies
  • The opposite of a command economy is a market economy and the combination of the two is a mixed economy.
  • Also called:
    • controlled economy
    • planned economy

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Additional Information

Related Terms

Works Consulted

Black, John, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth Myles. 2010. A Dictionary of Economics. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Law, Jonathan, ed. 2010. A Dictionary of Accounting. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.

Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).

Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.

Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Command Economy

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “command economy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 24, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/command-economy/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

command economy. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/command-economy/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “command economy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/command-economy/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“command economy.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/command-economy/>.