Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
Wouldn't catering to greed just be a confounding variable to your analysis? If, instead, as SebC notes we recognized it wasn't good for society, you could temper it and improve general outcomes? I don't believe greed in and of itself is a fundamental requirement for a capitalistic society to function. I think greedy people want us to believe it so they can normalize their poor behaviors.
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I agree greed in some forms is not good in society. The Monopoly end point of capitalism is a result of unmitigated greed. I don’t think catering to greed is the correct way of framing this. It’s designing policy with the recognition that greed exists to get the desired outcomes you want.
How does capitalism work without self interest though (unless you distinguish self interest from greed). The entire basis is a system of people pursuing profit to benefit themselves and that self interest allocates resources to the ideas that produce the most surplus. It’s why pollution taxes work and are necessary as capitalism will always ignore things that don’t have a monetary cost.
I think creating a monetary cost for the negative aspects of greed whether that be regulation, tax, or Social coercion is the only way to manage it. I see it has the driving force in the capitalist system and the reason why capitalism needs to be regulated