Governments

Government is a collective or group decision process where the government has coercive power, the power to force people to do things. Governments exist in a free market economy to carry out the following tasks:

1.  Provide stabilization policies
2.  Provide a stable and acceptable monetary system
3.  Provide an unbiased court and legal system
4.  Provide income redistribution(the tax and transfer system)
5.  Correct for market failures
1. Enact antitrust laws for monopolies
2. Regulate prices for natural monopolies
3. Address externalities, such as pollution, via EPA(Environmental Protection Agency)
6.  Provide public goods
1. These include: national defense, public safety, education, infrastructure, parks and recreation

Though many people disagree on the extent to which governments should interfere with the economy, they largely do not dispute a government's duty to carry out these six tasks.