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The United States entered the 21st century with an
economy that was bigger, and by many measures more
successful, than ever. Though the United States held
less than 5 percent of the world's population, it
accounted for more than 25 percent of the world's
economic output. In the 1990s, the American economy
recorded the longest uninterrupted period of
expansion in its history. A wave of technological
innovations in computing, telecommunications, and
the biological sciences were profoundly affecting
how Americans work and play. The United States
remains a "market economy." Americans continue to
believe that an economy generally operates best when
decisions about what to produce and what prices to
charge for goods are made through the give-and-take
of millions of independent buyers and sellers, not
by government or by powerful private interests.
Besides believing that free markets promote
economic efficiency, Americans see them as a way of
promoting their political values as well --
especially, their commitment to individual freedom
and political pluralism and their opposition to
undue concentrations of power. The American belief
in "free enterprise" has not precluded a major role
for government, however. Americans at times have
looked to government to break up or regulate
companies. that appeared to be developing so much
power that they could defy market forces. They have
relied on government to address matters the private
economy overlooks, from education to protecting the
environment. And despite their advocacy of market
principles, they have used government at times to
nurture new industries, and at times even to protect
American companies from competition.
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