SOME OTHER DIRECT GOVERNMENT INFLUENCES. In the American economy， government is much more important in its other roles-of controlling and regulating and directing and influencing things-than in its role as a producer of things. By contracting with private business and by direct assistance programs government has a considerable influence on the development of such things as: transportation and communications， natural resource development, housing, small business development， manpower development and training， rejuvenation of the urban areas, financing research for economic growth, aiding depressed areas such as Appalachia, and others. Government stabilizes farm prices, influences farm production, assists minority groups in entering the main-stream of the economy, levies tariffs on some products, establishes minimum wages and maximum hours and other working conditions, supports research programs to improve technology， and is involved in many other things. Truly, government is an ever-present part of the American economic system.
