Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Economic growth: Economic growth is the increase in the production of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. It is typically measured as a percentage change in real gross domestic product (GDP), which is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given year, adjusted for inflation. See also Economy, Economic development._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Conservatism on Economic Growth - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard III 968 Economic growth/Conservatism/Rothbard: [there is a] result of a critical error made by "right-wing" economists in their continuing debate with their "left-wing" opponents. Freedom/utilitarianism: Instead of emphasizing freedom and free choice as their highest political end, the rightist economists have stressed the importance of freedom as a utilitarian means of encouraging saving, investment, and therefore, economic growth. Income tax: (…) conservative opponents of the progressive income tax have often fallen into the trap oftreating saving and investment as somehow a greater and higher good than consumption, and therefore of implicitly criticizing the free market's saving/consumption ratio. Rothbard: Here we have another example of the same lapse into an implicit, arbitrary criticism of the market. LeftistsVsRightists: What the modern "leftist" proponents of compulsory growth have done is to use the venerable arguments of the conservatives as a boomerang against them, and to say, in effect, to their opponents: "Very well. You have been maintaining that saving and investment are of critical importance because they lead to growth and economic progress. Fine; but, as you yourselves implicitly grant, the free market's proportion of saving and investment is really too Slow. Why then rely upon it? Why not speed up growth by using government to coerce even more saving and investment, to speed up capital further?" Rothbard: It is evident that conservatives cannot counter by reiterating their familiar arguments. The proper comment here is the analysis we have been expounding - in short: (a) By what right do you maintain that people should grow faster than they voluntarily wish to grow? (b) Compulsory growth will not benefit the whole of society as will freely chosen growth, and it is therefore not "social growth"; some will gain - and gain at some distant date - at the expense of the retrogression of others. (c) Government investment or subsidized investment is either malinvestment or not investment at all, but simply waste assets or "consumption" of waste for the prestige of government offcials. >Economic growth/Rothbard, >Government policy/Rothbard, >Government services/Rothbard, >Government spending/Rothbard, >Bureaucracy/Rothbard._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Conservatism Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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> Counter arguments against Conservatism
> Counter arguments in relation to Economic Growth
