Broadly construed, economic security is the ability of people to meet their needs consistently. It is connected to the concept of economic well-being and also to the notion of the modern welfare state, a governmental entity that commits itself to providing baseline guarantees for its citizens’ security.
Attempts to ensure economic security are meant to serve as a check against instability in the market, which scholars say has become more important in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union and the predominance of market capitalism. It may be even more relevant in light of declining labor bargaining power since the 1970s in post-industrial economies, such as the United States, and economic insecurity caused by COVID-19.
