ABSTRACT
Welfare capitalism may be distinguished from laissez faire capitalism on the one hand and socialism on the other. Laissez faire is the reliance upon market mechanisms in the private sector to determine the prices, quantities, and distribution of nearly all goods and services, except in such areas as military procurement where the state is considered the sole legitimate contractor. Socialism, by contrast, may be defined as a system in which the state rather than the market determines the prices, quantities, and distribution of most goods and services.
