Individual self interest in a free market economy can help but hurt the people in many ways. Milton Friedman, who was an economist, stated “Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of freedom itself.” It's good to have self interest or else we’d never help ourselves. But having a self interest in a free market economy can cause problems if that's all we're worried about is ourselves. A market economy is an economic system in which individuals own most of the resources; land, labor, and capital; and control their use through voluntary decisions made in the marketplace. It is a system in which the government plays a small role. in this type of economy, two forces - self interest and competition was described by economist
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the answer is always self interest. The baker wants to earn enough money to feed his family and buy the things he wants and the most effective was he has found to do that is to bake bread for you. In fact his bread has to be good enough and the service friendly enough that you are willing to give up your money freely in exchange for his bread. The baker while serving his self interest has produced a goof that is very valuable to you. The miracle of a market system is that self interest produces behavior that benefits others. Is being self interest greedy? Is it immoral? The term self interest has negative connotations, it does not necessarily imply greedy or immoral behavior. Self interest just means that you seek your goals. In fact, your self interest might lead you to study hard for your math test, give money to your favorite charity or volunteer at a local school. The discussion of self interest and competition usually results in a discussion of the proper role of government regulation. Some see a market economy as largely self regulating, assuming there are enough firms competing in the market to be a check on self interest. Others point to examples of fraud where competition has failed to be an adequate check on self interest, they argue that government must take a more active role regulating economic activity. In fact, much of the fighting among political groups has to do with the question of how much government control is needed to regulate the
the answer is always self interest. The baker wants to earn enough money to feed his family and buy the things he wants and the most effective was he has found to do that is to bake bread for you. In fact his bread has to be good enough and the service friendly enough that you are willing to give up your money freely in exchange for his bread. The baker while serving his self interest has produced a goof that is very valuable to you. The miracle of a market system is that self interest produces behavior that benefits others. Is being self interest greedy? Is it immoral? The term self interest has negative connotations, it does not necessarily imply greedy or immoral behavior. Self interest just means that you seek your goals. In fact, your self interest might lead you to study hard for your math test, give money to your favorite charity or volunteer at a local school. The discussion of self interest and competition usually results in a discussion of the proper role of government regulation. Some see a market economy as largely self regulating, assuming there are enough firms competing in the market to be a check on self interest. Others point to examples of fraud where competition has failed to be an adequate check on self interest, they argue that government must take a more active role regulating economic activity. In fact, much of the fighting among political groups has to do with the question of how much government control is needed to regulate the