Image Source
Economic value relating to means of production can be vastly different depending on the source of its creation. Within socialism, the means of production are controlled by the state and its ruling members. On the other hand, private ownership such as that which appears within capitalism is owned and controlled by individuals or groups of individuals. With this method of controlling the way items and products are produced, many incentives are created to encourage the promotion and creation of these items. Under private ownership, groups of people or even solo individuals compete with each other in order to sell their product so they can be the ones who profit from these sales. This encourages these companies or organizations to work to create higher quality products and more efficient means of production as well as put in the effort to develop new and improved products in order to get a head start on the markets. In socialism, however, the government controls all of the aspects of product creation and development. This removes the listed incentives and encouragements for doing so, causing many issues to arise in the means of production, development, and manufacturing. For example, without the potential for financial gain that exists within private ownership, people under socialism have no reason to develop any new products, work any harder, or attempt to improve upon the effectiveness of their current way of living. If their effort does not change their living conditions or financial situation, there is no incentive for any research or development to be done. Thus, very little work would be done to create and develop new and improved products. Another example would be in the world of medicine. If specific medicines would be given out for free, many people would not seek to create it in the first place. If there is no way for a person to benefit from spending their own time and effort on a particular something, then oftentimes they simply choose not to do it. This is why socialism often has much difficulty maintaining equal economic and technological status as countries more geared towards capitalism and private ownership. The incentives of private ownership leads into greater expansion and new developments.