powerpoint.12
Transcript of powerpoint.12
History of the Free Market
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
Freedom of Enterprise and ChoiceProducers are free to transform the factors of
production into (legal) products to sell
Consumers are free to purchase the products
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
CompetitionRivalry among producers/sellers of goods
and servicesencourages products that are innovative,
high in quality, low in price.
encourages efficient use of resources
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
Equal OpportunityEvery citizen has the right to gain an
education and to compete in the marketplace for wealth
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy
Binding ContractsAgreements between people that, once
entered into, must be fulfilled
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
Property Rights Individuals and businesses own the factors
of production, not the governmentPeople can also own their ideas and artistic
work
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
Profit Motive Because people have
the freedom to earn a profit, they have the incentive to work hard and produce quality goods/services
Characteristics of the U.S. Economy:
Limited GovernmentPreserves competitionProtects consumers, workers and the
environmentStabilizes the
economy
Market Economy: Flow
“The reason markets work so well is because one person’s output always becomes another person’s input.”
-- Ch. 3, p. 43
Adam Smith
Founder of modern economic thought
Wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776
Self-Interest
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens.”
-- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
The force that makes this possible:
the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace
The Invisible Hand:
“Every individual . . . neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it . . . He intends only his own gain, and he is in this . . . led as if by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it has no part in it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.”
-- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
How does it work?
Self-interest drives producers and consumers to help one another
Competition leads to more efficient production and lower prices
Jobs are created, trade occurs, the economy prospers, all without government intervention
This theory led to the doctrine:
Laissez-faire (“Let it Be”)Absence of government controlEconomic competition weeds out the
weak and preserves the strong (like natural selection)
Free Market System = Capitalism
The late 1800s and early 1900s was an era of rapid industrialization
Capitalism
Government stayed out of business, and monopolies formed, controlling prices and production
Capitalism
Millions worked long hours for low pay in dangerous factories and mines
no work-safety regulations, no minimum wage laws, no child labor laws, no social security or pensions
A Response: Karl Marx
Marx believed Capitalism would eventually destroy itself
Those at the bottom would rebel against the owners of the factories
Final Stage: Communism
A new society would rise in which all were equal and private property would disappear