The Scale of Statism: A Framework for Ranking Socioeconomic Systems

This article presents the scale of statism, a framework for understanding and ranking socioeconomic systems, and demonstrates that, contrary to academic and popular belief, today’s economies are not capitalist (i.e., market economies). Instead, existing economies—including the United States, the stronghold of “capitalism”—are statist. The article includes a philosophical and analytical framework; an explanation of the six socioeconomic systems on the scale (free-market capitalism, crony capitalism, mixed economy, economic fascism, democratic socialism, and Marxist socialism); and a diagram of the scale, with Angola as a case study.