Self Interest Essay

1197 Words3 Pages

Rational self-Interest: The world runs on self-interest individuals. People are driven by what motivates them. Self-interest motivates economic activities. Producers are always competing against each other by doing so they’re interest is held in check meaning they want to climb higher to the top or remain at the top, never falling behind. A person work or go to school for personal gains. You work for a check or go to school for a degree. Adam Smith describe self-interest as the Invisible hand according to article call Invisible Hand theory get tested on the Environment “Smith’s description of the invisible hand theory states that individuals pursuing their own interest frequently promote the good of society than when he really intends to promote it. There is a negative side to self- interest also. Self-interest without morals lead to Capitalism. Self-interest fail to support in several way; first it fails when the market completion breaks down. Second, it can turn into unacceptable inequality such as fraud, luck or wealth of power. Self-interest can be both a great and if not careful a devastating thing to the economy’s market. Incentive: Incentive- something that induces a person to act. Incentive plays a major role in economics. According to the textbook Principles of Microeconomics “A higher price in a market provides an incentive for buyers to consume less and an incentive for sellers to produce more.” For example if the price of chocolate chip cookies are too high buyers will buy less or not buy them at all, or change to a substitute product. A tax on cigarettes encourage people to switch to alcohol or other illegal drugs. If two identical companies are hiring, one company’s wage is 16 dollars an hour for 8 hours work and the... ... middle of paper ... ...ket where marijuana or other illegal drugs were to be legal the economy would have a major boost. According to we are the drug policy alliance “Legalizing and regulating marijuana will bring the nation's largest cash crop under the rule of law, creating jobs and economic opportunities in the formal economy instead of the illicit market.” For example if producers are making more (legal) drugs that are good quality that are inspected by professionals of course buyers willingness to pay for good quality legal drug will increase, producers will have money to make more supplies and pay taxes to government. Furthermore the crime rate would decrease since people are not likely to rob other individuals for their drugs, selling drugs would be legal and not a crime, and jails would be less full of drug criminals meaning less of tax payer’s money will go to the prison system

Open Document