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[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Capitalism vs. Laissez-Faire
Thesis Statement
It now appears that a new social unrest has taken root in America. But the debate was to be fought in the economic world. The question was, how should the government interact with business? The issue splits into two main views, that of Laissez-faire, and that of General Welfare. Laissez-faire is a rather straight-forward philosophy.
Detail and Critique
Those who recognize the suffering that results from such policies as structural adjustment, often complain loudly. These complaints, if effective at all, lead to minor changes. But while these changes may bring modest improvements, new policies are being implemented by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization that continue to worsen the situation. They are all guided by a common vision and understanding (Ehrlich, Ehrlich, Leon, Morris, 1979). As long as this vision and understanding remain unchallenged, improving the ways in which they are implemented has only minor effects (Dobbs, 1963).
This vision and understanding are shaped by the dominant economic theory. That theory in turn follows from a few fundamental assumptions. Until these assumptions are made explicit and critically evaluated, this vision and understanding will continue to dominate the course of events (Faiwel, 1975).
According to Daly and Cobb, contemporary economic theory holds to a crude, mechanistic worldview of homo economicus as an autonomous individual driven solely by self-interest and of society as an aggregate of such individuals. This view tends to equate gains in society as a whole with the increases in goods and services acquired by its individual members, but it says nothing about the changes in the quality of the relationships that constitute that society. They therefore propose a "paradigm shift" from economics conceived as "crematistics" (maximization of short-term monetary gain) to the sort of economics Aristotle called "oikonomia" (management of a household aimed at increasing its use value over the long run for the community)....................
