Self-Interest In Adam Smith's The Economic Lowdown

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Why do you go to school? Why do you want to get good grades? Why do you want to have a good work? There are a lot of reasons, but it seems that the most accurate is because you are self-interested. (source) Being self-interested indicates that you care of your own personal achievements. In words of Adam Smith in his book “The Economic Lowdown”: “It is not from the benevolence (kindness) of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own interest.” In other words, why does the baker makes bread? The most straight forward answer is because of self-interest. The baker wants to get enough money to feed his family, to pay the rent, and most probably to get car and the easiest way for him to get this money is to bake bread for everybody. …show more content…

Due to the implications listed before, the baker while following his self-interest has generated a good that is valuable to us. Milton Friedman supports this idea by asking the following questions to Donahue when talking about greed: “Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? ...The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.” To run on greed does not necessarily imply to be greedy, it just means that people seek their goals. Self-interest or to run on greed can actually lead one to study hard for one test, to donate money to some charity program or to be volunteer in an important

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