A planned economy is an economic system in which investment and distribution of capital good is decided by a nation-wide plan of production. This plan can be centralised, decentralised or participatory. Advantages of a planned economy include the ability to impede consumer demand, and that the state can acquire land, capital and labour. Disadvantages include the inability to detect consumer preferences and shortages with enough accuracy to efficiently coordinate production. Planned economies are most often associated with the former Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc states. These countries had command economies, a variant of a planned economy in which there is substantial public ownership of industry. However, these states were outperformed by Western European market economies.