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Public and Private Decision Making

In: Reasonably Simple Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Evan Osborne

Abstract

Markets and governments are perhaps, along with religion, the oldest human institutions. According to some research , stone axes may have been traded by humans hundreds of thousands of years ago. Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations described the urge to “truck, barter and exchange” as a “general disposition” of men. As for government, the idea of a caste of humans with the power to forcibly extract resources (as with modern taxation) and use them for the ruler’s purposes (sometimes for the broad benefit of the public, sometimes not) and to tell people what they are not allowed to do (or are required to do) has been around at least since humans made the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural society, the latter generating for the first time large amounts of produce that had to be stored and allocated.

Suggested Citation

  • Evan Osborne, 2013. "Public and Private Decision Making," Springer Books, in: Reasonably Simple Economics, chapter 0, pages 95-124, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-1-4302-5942-8_5
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4302-5942-8_5
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