Government Intervention in the Australian economy

The free operation of market forces does not always achieve the most desirable economic and social outcomes. Discuss reasons for government intervention in the Australian economy.

The free operation of market forces does not always achieve the most desirable economic and social outcomes. Australia has a mixed market economy where the decisions concerning production and distribution are determined by a mixture of market forces with some degree of government intervention. Markets are not perfect. They are extremely effective in determining what our economy produces and how production is organised. No other system of economic coordination has produced the level of prosperity, innovation and satisfaction of material wants. But markets are not enough. They only consider private economic interests, and not just broader social interests. We live in a society, not just an economy. We need governments, not just to make markets function, but sometimes to change market outcomes when they are ...