Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism
Debunking Myths about the Free Market
1. Auflage
Erschienen am 15. Dezember 2014
233 Seiten
978-0-255-36679-3 (ISBN)
Beschreibung
This IEA publication deals head-on with a number of widely quoted myths about the market economy. In the case of the philosophical myths, such as the idea that economists believe that everybody is greedy, the author, Christopher Snowdon, carefully and entertainingly unpicks the misguided ideas that have taken hold. The author then moves on and effectively disposes of a number of economic myths using empirical evidence that is often ignored by commentators.
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Inhalt
- Intro
- _GoBack
- Table?1 Relative mobility in the UK
- The author
- Foreword
- Preface
- Summary
- Figures and tables
- Part 1
- The Straw Men
- 1 Capitalism relies on greed and selfishness
- Incentives and the invisible hand
- The parable of the steel company
- Is greed good?
- Conclusion
- 2 Economists believe people are perfectly rational
- Some models are useful
- Rational choice and behavioural economics
- Have we found angels to govern us?
- Rational consumers and irrational voters
- Conclusion
- 3 Economists think GDP is all that matters
- A blind obsession?
- No design for life
- Conclusion
- 4 Economists think we live in a free market
- A free market is not anarchy
- Capitalists don't like free markets
- Planning, private and public
- Conclusion
- PART 2
- The Myths
- 5 The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
- Higher wages for all
- The progress of the poor relative to the rich
- Conclusion
- 6 We are working ever longer hours
- Conclusion
- 7 Rich countries will not benefit from more economic growth
- Growth scepticism
- In defence of growth
- Conclusion
- 8 There is a paradox of prosperity
- Other people's consumerism
- Ferraris, Porsches and other preferences
- Conclusion
- 9 Inequality is rising in Britain
- Why inequality rose in the 1980s
- Taxes, benefits and inequality
- Inequality and recession
- The one per cent
- 10 Inequality is the cause of health and social problems
- Selection bias
- Ignoring outliers
- Dismissal of economic growth as a factor
- Ignoring history
- Mechanisms
- Selective criteria
- Consensus?
- The panacea temptation
- Why inequality?
- Conclusion
- 11 If you're born poor, you die poor
- Absolute and relative mobility
- Towards a meritocracy
- Conclusion
- References
- About the IEA
- Figure?1 Public spending in 2013/14 prices (UK)
- Figure?2 Disposable income (solid line) and GDP (dotted line)
- Figure?3 Real-terms increases in disposable income by quintile
- Figure?4 Disposable income growth for bottom two quintiles
- Figure?5 Annual working hours in the developed world, 1992-2012
- Figure?6 UK average hours worked per week
- Figure?7 Global real GDP per capita
- Figure?8 Inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient
- Figure?9 Inequality as measured by the difference between the 90th and 10th percentile
- Figure?10 Incomes of retired and non-retired households
- Figure?11 Gross national income and self-reported happiness
- Figure?12 Inequality and life expectancy (Spirit Level countries)
- Figure?13 Inequality and life expectancy (with missing countries included)
- Figure?14 Inequality and homicides per 100,000
- Figure?15 Inequality and self-reported trust
- Figure?16 Gross national income and self-reported happiness
- Figure?17 Inequality and heart disease mortality (per 100,000)
- Figure?18 Inequality and per capita cinema attendance
- Figure?19 Inequality and faith in God
- Figure?20 Inequality and The Economist's Quality of Life index
- Blank Page
