· The Golden Rule doesn’t work, but not because people are selfish
o People are not omniscient <primary reason
o Example: Pilgrims tried to operate colony based on golden rule, but only succeeded as a colony once they abandoned the policy
· Motivations of people in an economy
o People produce for prophet, not for people
§ If governments forced the opposite to occur, the lack of competition forces people to not work as hard
o Self-interest
§ Seen differently in different situations in American culture
· In market: Seen badly
· Outside of market: Seen in a positive note
o Reciprocal Altruism
§ When one person helps another person with the expectation that someone else will do it for them later
§ Thought to be a way to describe the economy (all transactions are immediate reciprocal altruisms)
· It is not selfishness that motivates people
o Needs, wants for family a bigger motivator
o Self-interest and selfishness is different
o Not much is done when we trade under the idea of the Golden Rule
§ Less exchange would occur
· Silver Rule of Rizzo
o Do not do to others what you would consider unfair or unjust if they did it to you
o A rule that is commonly used in the market (do not use with family)
o Works efficiently in a capitalistic economy
o Examples:
§ It is not morally sound to be charitable with someone else’ money
§ Money invested in a company should not be going to charity
· There is no such thing as “enough profit”
o Factors can change after several years
o It is socially responsible to gain as much profit as possible in order to keep the Silver Rule in effect and keep the economy efficient
o Exonn lost a lot of money in the 1980’s; offset by their profits in the 2000’s
o Businesses cannot run as a charity in which the company pays too much or charges too little to make a profit
No comments:
Post a Comment