What is Command economy?
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19000-0213, Neujahr, Silvesterkarpfen.jpg|thumb|207x207px|[[Advertisement]] from the [[German Democratic Republic]], telling people to eat [[carp]] on [[New Year's Eve]]]] [[File:Spare seife aber wie.jpg|thumb|224x224px|A German poster from World War I, telling people to use less [[soap]], because it is made from the scarce [[vegetable oil|oils]] and [[fats]]. Ideas include to not hold the soap under water, and do not throw away small pieces of soap]] A '''command economy or planned economy''' is where the big decisions are made at the center by the government. <ref>Gregory Grossman 1987. Command economy. In ''The New Palgrave: a dictionary of economics'', v. 1, pp. 494–95.</ref> In an [[economics|economic]] system the main decisions are, for example, allocating resources like [[Labour (economics)|labour]], [[capital (economics)|capital]] and [[mineral]]s. [[Price]]s, too, are controlled. In a command economy, these decisions are taken by a central body, usually the [[government]]. This system contrasts that of a [[market economy]] where all the economic actors involved make decisions. The benefit of a planned economy is that the planners (supposedly) know all about what is happening, and can make a better [[decision-making|decision]] than in the market economy. Countries at war sometimes command their people to make things the war needs; the major powers in [[World War II]] did this. [[Friedrich Hayek|Friedrick von Hayek]], a 20th-century economist, thought that it is not possible for the [[planning]] body to have perfect information.<ref>Hayek, Friedrick 1944. ''The road to serfdom''. {{ISBN|978-0-226-32055-7}}</ref> For this reason, the decisions taken by this body will be wrong, as it is not possible to foresee all possible events. Once the decision has been taken there is only a small margin to vary the production; this means that a planned economy cannot adapt to a change as rapidly as a market economy. According to [[Ludwig von Mises]], there is no [[Competition (economics)