The final basic value that states are usually expected to uphold is the populations social economic wealth and welfare. People expect their government to adopt appropriate policies to encourage high employment, low inflation, steady invesment, the uninterrupted flow of trade and commerce, and so forth. Because national economies are rarely isolated from each other, most people also expect that the state will respond to the international economic environment in such a way as to enhance or at least defend and maintain the national standard of living