The Pros and Cons of Greed

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Recommended: Introduction on Greed

When the word “greed” is used it is most often in a negative connotation describing some sort of socially unacceptable behavior. Individuals who are described as “greedy” are often considered thieves or usurpers. Yet, is greed really that bad? Is it not greed that, ultimately, motivates one to excel? In a commencement speech at the University of California-Berkeley’s School of Business Administration stock speculator Ivan Boesky declared, “Greed is all right, by the way…. I think greed is healthy” (James), could a man who seemed so successful be so very wrong? The short answer to this question is yes, greed really is that bad and although it can be the greatest of motivators towards success, ultimately when it takes the form identified below it only leads to failure as exemplified by Mr. Boesky’s conviction on insider trading charges. To more fully answer this question it is necessary to discuss what greed truly is, how it manifests itself in the business world in an economic sense and what effects it has on the market.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines greed as “Inordinate or insatiate longing, especially for wealth; avaricious or covetous desire”, in other words, constantly wanting more than what you have. This definition, however, does not offer a reason as to why greed is a bad thing. Wanting more, especially in the context of economics, is usually considered to be a desired manner of conducting oneself. Participants in a market are assumed to be “rational maximizers” in that they always choose the basket of goods or method of production that provides them with the highest levels of utility or highest profits. If it were possible for an individual to obtain a higher level of satisfaction economics expects th...

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...his may be true in the short run but certainly not in the long run. In the long run the greedy must and will pay for their avarice whether it is through a prison sentence or pain endured through a stock market crash caused by their greed. Ultimately greed is bad for society as a whole and “infectious greed”, to which Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan attributes the current business crises (James), can do a great deal of damage to an economy.

Works Cited:

Gordley, James. Good Faith and Profit Maximization.

http://www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cstm/antwerp/p3.htm. 11/23/02.

James, Michael S. Is Greed Ever Good?

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/greed020822.html. 11/18/02

Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford University Press. 11/23/02

Smith, Adam Wealth of Nations. Prometheus Books. December 1991.

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