Thus, economic policy must fulfil two tasks. First, it has to spell out these principles in the form of suitable rules to ensure that they become operable – which in some circumstances may also mean justiciable –, that they can be set in relation to each other, and that they actually develop a binding force.
Second, economic policy must align the requirements of a competitive order with other political ends, for example if the results of market processes are undesirable from a social-political perspective. Keeping an eye on the social consequences of market processes is an important supplement to regulatory policy and the hallmark of a social market economy.