Research Paper on "Home Midterm ECO54 Spring 2008 Summarize"

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To what extent can these beliefs be said to have arisen out of the political history of the mercantilist era, such as the rise of nation states in Europe and the 'Voyages of Discovery' that led to the opening up of new trade links to South America and Asia?

Colonialism made additional resources of gold and silver available to the nations of Europe. The Voyages of Discovery, funded by newly powerful rulers, created a race between the major powers to see which nation could establish dominance over the New World and its seemingly vast supply of resources and goods. With new goods, and new sources of gold and silver, the nation-state could have additional resources to war against its neighbors.

Describe the nature of and the effects of the mercantilist policies of Colbert, finance minister under Louis XIV of France

Although historians are critical of Louis XIV's excessive spending on luxuries, his efficient finance minister Colbert reduced the expenses collecting taxes, minimized patronage and corruption, and created an accurate system of bookkeeping for the government. Colbert tried to make the rates of taxation more equitable between the different French provinces. "Industry and agriculture were encouraged, and efforts were made to create free trade between the interior provinces of the kingdom" (Rempel 2008).

What was the nature of the theoretical reaction to such policies from economists such as Boisguilbert and the physiocrats?

Boisguilbert and the physiocrats reacted against the protectionist policies of mercantilism. Mercantilists saw high tariffs and trade barriers as a source of strength. Instead, the physiocrats believed that agriculture should be the focus of all economic policy, that taxes should be low, direct, and based on the land, and that free trade and commerce should be encouraged within the nation ("Economics," Microsoft Encarta® Online Encyclopedia, 2007).

Question

Discuss Adam Smith's views on the proper role of the government. In Smith's view, what should the government do and what should it not do?

Despite the current, popular caricature of Adam Smith as someone who believed that the government who governs best governs least, Smith's primary interest was in creating a level economic playing field, not in prohibiting all government influence upon the economy. Smith actually believed that governments had a vital role to play in economic life. At times, the government could be essential to create a level playing field for economic actors, if certain entities were becoming too large. Also the government could prevent underhanded actions. "Like most modern believers in free markets, Smith believed that the government should enforce contracts and grant patents and copyrights to encourage inventions and new ideas. He also thought that the government should provide public works, such as roads and bridges, that, he assumed, would not be worthwhile for individuals to provide," and which would spur commerce and make opportunities for entrepreneurship greater for everyone ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999). Smith even believed that the users of such public works should pay in proportion to their use, in a modern version of tolls ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999). This was a great and positive advancement upon the prohibitive taxation of an abject populace, as advocated by the mercantilists.

Of course, the historical environment in which Smith wrote must always be emphasized. "One definite difference between Smith and most modern believers in free markets is that Smith favored retaliatory tariffs," against nations that abused free market policies, but given the preponderance of nations that still believed in mercantilism, and protectionism, this seems like a more rational policy even for a free market thinker like Smith than one might assume ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999).

Explain the meaning of Robert Heilbroner's comment in the Worldly Philosophers that "The great enemy to Adam Smith's system is not so much government per se as monopoly in any form."

In short, Smith wished to create a state in which every person could explore his or her desires and talents to the greatest degree. He hated what the monopoly state of mercantilism did to the soul of a nation, driving potentially talented members of the lower classes into penury simply to enrich the state, and preventing citizens from keeping most of their honestly-won gains. He frowned upon controls and limits upon commerce written into law that threatened competition, but he also recognized that monopoles could form in an entirely unregulated environment, and thus would have supported current attempts to curtail monopolies by the federal government through anti-trust statutes. Any monopoly, whether created by pubic or private enterprise, was dangerous in Smith's view because it was a block to economic efficiency and growth.

In general, Smith did not see anti-trust legislation perhaps as necessary as we might today because Smith had a "benign" or even naive view of economic self-interest, and hoped that self-interest would naturally channel people to pursue aims that would result in the benefit of all humankind through the invisible hand of the marketplace ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999).

Question

Read Chapters I, II and III of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. (a) Summarize Smith's ideas on the division of labor.

Smith believed in the salutary effects of the division of labor, arguing that the main cause of prosperity was the new specialization of labor in the wake of industrialization. "Smith gave the famous example of pins. He asserted that ten workers could produce 48,000 pins per day if each of eighteen specialized tasks was assigned to particular workers. Average productivity: 4,800 pins per worker per day. But absent the division of labor, a worker would be lucky to produce even one pin per day" ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999). Long before the modern ideas of standardized parts and factory labor was conceived of and implemented on a mass scale, the inherent efficiency of standardized labor in a factory, and the speculation of professions was conceived of by Smith.

In what ways has the concept of division of labor changed economic thinking? Which topics in economic theory have been affected the most? What role did the division of labor play in Smith's theory of economic development?

Smith claimed that an individual would invest a resource, for example, land or labor, so as to earn the highest possible return on it. Consequently, all uses of the resource must yield an equal rate of return (adjusted for the relative riskiness of each enterprise). Otherwise reallocation would result" ("Adam Smith (1723-90)," the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 1999). In other words, rather than forcing people to pursue the same profession as their grandfather against their own good sense and self-interest, allowing people to rationally decide what particular way they wished to allocate their resources, including their talent as well as their land and money, was the best way to economically structure a society.

To what extent were Smith's ideas on the division of labor anticipated in the writings of Xenophon, Plato, and William Petty?

Plato and Xenophon, who chronicled the life and words of Socrates, suggested like Smith in the Wealth of Nations that all human beings were divided into different classes of labor, those who ruled, those who fought, and those who labored by trade. If people with an inclination to philosophy were forced to become shoemakers, chaos and disharmony would result. Smith wrote in a more technologically sophisticated era, but had the same fears about the dangers of a nation or… READ MORE