People are wealthy because having an excess of money, means that they have access to an excess of actual resources. That is what wealth really is, “the use, possession, or control over any resource” be it physical or human (Fry 2016). Power on the other hand, revolves around the use of those resources. When one has a large enough amount of resources (and the proper social standing), one can allocate those resources in such a way that they can exercise a “capacity to control outcomes” (Fry 2016). The concept of power exists on a wide spectrum, from having the power to acquire a piece of food to eat, to having the power to assemble and command an entire military.
So where does wealth originate? That is the question that early economists, …show more content…
The economy under feudalism operated under a social system of rights and obligations, as opposed to a profit oriented economy like we know today (Fusfeld 7). Unlike the centralized government of Rome, feudalism had but a simple pyramid of social classes, and those were only loosely connected to government, especially towards the bottom of the pyramid (Snarr and Snarr 60). Miller explains how “an individual’s rights, obligations, and relationship to the law were based on, and restricted by, his or her social rank” …show more content…
Essentially, a (morally) just price would provide the buyer with the goods needed, while providing the seller with just enough profit to continue trade, and provide subsistence for the laborer (Fusfeld 9-10). In other words, any trade or purchase would be mutually beneficial to both buyer and seller, and include only the socially necessary costs of production. In addition to this standard, just price theory aimed to reproduce the existing social order, which was of certain importance to the theologians (Fusfeld 9). Ultimately the dilemma between the church’s push for the responsibility of others, and the economy’s push for success in the market by outperforming others, eventually withered away, leaving the economy as the victor. This new economic ethic formed the groundwork by which the world, on the whole, still operates today (Fusfeld
So where does wealth originate? That is the question that early economists, …show more content…
The economy under feudalism operated under a social system of rights and obligations, as opposed to a profit oriented economy like we know today (Fusfeld 7). Unlike the centralized government of Rome, feudalism had but a simple pyramid of social classes, and those were only loosely connected to government, especially towards the bottom of the pyramid (Snarr and Snarr 60). Miller explains how “an individual’s rights, obligations, and relationship to the law were based on, and restricted by, his or her social rank” …show more content…
Essentially, a (morally) just price would provide the buyer with the goods needed, while providing the seller with just enough profit to continue trade, and provide subsistence for the laborer (Fusfeld 9-10). In other words, any trade or purchase would be mutually beneficial to both buyer and seller, and include only the socially necessary costs of production. In addition to this standard, just price theory aimed to reproduce the existing social order, which was of certain importance to the theologians (Fusfeld 9). Ultimately the dilemma between the church’s push for the responsibility of others, and the economy’s push for success in the market by outperforming others, eventually withered away, leaving the economy as the victor. This new economic ethic formed the groundwork by which the world, on the whole, still operates today (Fusfeld