Zwangsgesellschaft

Zwangswirtschaft ou Zwangsgesellschaft, littéralement économie de contrainte ou société de contrainte, est l'opposé du laissez-faire.

[1]

Dans sa forme "modérée", c'est une économie (et donc société) où l'État laisse les individus propriétaires nominaux de leurs biens, mais contrôle leurs actions par des interventions coercitives dans l'économie.

Mises la définit ainsi comme l'économie "mixte", social-démocrate, national-socialiste ou fasciste [2] :

The Zwangswirtschaft Type of Socialism

It is, of course, true that this type of socialism preserves some of the labels and the outward appearance of capitalism. It maintains, seemingly and nominally, private ownership of the means of production, prices, wages, interest rates and profits. In fact, however, nothing counts but the government's unrestricted autocracy. The government tells the entrepreneurs and capitalists what to produce and in what quantity and quality, at what prices to buy and from whom, at what prices to sell and to whom. It decrees at what wages and where the workers must work. Market exchange is but a sham. All the prices, wages, and interest rates are determined by the authority. They are prices, wages, and interest rates in appearance only; in fact they are merely quantity relations in the government's orders. The government, not the consumers, directs production. The government determines, directs production. The government determines each citizen's income, it assigns to everybody the position in which he has to work. This is socialism in the outward guise of capitalism. It is the Zwangswirtschaft of Hitler's German Reich and the planned economy of Great Britain.

Dans sa forme extrême, c'est l'économie planifiée, totalitaire, communiste, où la contrainte s'exerce plus en amont et de manière plus complète.

Voir aussi

• Jan Krepelka, Laissez-faire vs Zwangsgesellschaft : le seul débat politique qui compte