This section will identify other economic systems. The first is a traditional economic system where the economy is based on-you're right- tradition! In this system, people have the same economic roles throughout each generation. Goods and services are produced in traditional ways such as farming and hunting. In these societies, tradition decides what these people do for a living and how they do their work.

Some countries have characteristics of all the economic systems that you have examined in this lesson. This type of economic system is called a mixed economy. In a mixed economy, both the government and the private sector coexist for the good of society. Most modern economies can be considered mixed economies since the means of production are shared between the public and private sectors.

The United States is an example of a mixed economy. In the United States, the government controls services such as the postal service, public transportation, and libraries. However, there are similar services that are privately owned, such as UPS, Amtrak, and Amazon.