ECONOMIC SYSTEMS Adam Smith laissez faire Scottish moral

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

Adam Smith- laissez faire • Scottish moral philosopher • Wealth of Nations- Capitalism • Free market economy- govt should refrain from interfering. If people were allowed to seek personal gain, it would increase general welfare • Challenged “mercantilism”, where govt regulated trade to increase gold/silver • Driving philosophical idea behind Industrial Revolution

David Ricardo/Thomas Malthus • Also believers in capitalism • Said that population boom outstripped food supply, also led to low wages. • Workers’ condition was result of “natural law”

Jeremy Bentham • Pass legislation that “maximizes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people” • Ethics- “greatest good” • Does not consider personal gain/advancement.

Count de Saint-Simon • “Positivism”- modern socialism • Poor workers led by artists/scientists should form communities under protection of benevolent business leaders. • Government takes from rich, gives to those in need • Similar to Utopian socialism • Still popular in Latin Am. countries

Friedrich List • Realized Great Britain domination of world economy because of capitalism • Rejected capitalism and free trade • German states should eliminate tariffs between one another and pass high tariffs against Britain • Led to creation of Zollverein

Charles Fourier • Hated capitalism • Envisioned ideal society where workers would live together in dormitories, work together, share everything • Criticized as unrealistic/imaginative. “Utopia” is Greek for “not” and “place”= “No place” • Robert Owen made attempt to create utopian society

Karl Marx • Communism, branch of socialism • Egalitarian, stateless, classless society based on common ownership of means of production. • No private ownership, workers own everything • Everyone received same compensation for work