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The Pursuit of Profit

In: A Moderate Compromise

Author

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  • Steven Suranovic

Abstract

Economists and others, who support globalization, tend to look favorably upon profit seeking by firms. Neoclassical economic models are built on the assumptions that firms maximize profit and consumers maximize utility. Adam Smith’s famous passage about the butcher, brewer, and baker is often used to suggest that self-centered, even egoistic, profit-seeking behavior can have positive effects for the economy: It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. (Smith, 1937, para 1.2.2)

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Suranovic, 2010. "The Pursuit of Profit," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: A Moderate Compromise, chapter 0, pages 113-131, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-11460-9_6
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230114609_6
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