Economics of Fascism

In our debate last week, we only briefly addressed the economics of fascism, which was apparently a strong point for the pro side. Fascism has no clear-cut economic platform, but any aspect of fascism stresses the primacy of the state over the individual. Though anti-communist, fascism and capitalism can coexist, but the capitalist system must be modified to a "corporatist" one. Especially true in Italy, the state plans economic goals and coordinates an economic strategy. Businesses are regulated by government into "confederations" which were controlled by government agencies; this business-government collaboration is very much an interventionist policy, as government control is necessary to make private interests serve the state's. Companies rely heavily on so-called "corporate welfare", where they are propped up by state subsidies. Importantly during World War II, the large amount of control the state had over the economy allowed it to change the economic focus to military spending. Close cooperation between the government and businesses made it easier for the state to regulate economic goals to further political ones.

Essay on fascist economics. Interesting article, but deviates in talking about how America still relies on fascist economic principles: "Are Internal Revenue Service agents really our 'servants'?"