Woś, Jerzy2013-03-132013-03-132001Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 63, 2001, z. 4, s. 173-1910035-9629http://hdl.handle.net/10593/5163The optimal relations between the market and the state has been sought since the beginnings of market economy. In the course of the capitalist system evolution, its basis has remained untouched: dominance of private property and market mechanism. In the recent years the Anglo-Saxon liberal USA model of economy has been particularly successful. It is highly individualized with a fairly limited role of the state. This does not, however, mean that there is no alternative to the liberal free market economy model. There are indeed successful countries where collectivistic values are dominant and where the state plays a bigger role than in the USA. The article discusses some basic issues of interrelation between the two spheres typical of the contemporary capitalist economy: the private sphere, i.e. the market, and the political sphere, i.e. the state. These issues are discussed within the framework identified already in the economic literature, namely of such contemporary market economy models as: the Anglo-Saxon, the one of the Rhone region, the Japanese, and the Scandinavian ones.plArtykuł