Self-interest is the driving force behind free market prosperity.
"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 Necessities But Of Their Advantages."
- Adam Smith
Adam Smith, the great interpreter of free enterprise economics, talked of an “invisible hand” causing self-interested workers and tradesfolk to produce outcomes that contributed to the common good. Bakeries, breweries, IT firms, car manufacturers, banks and every kind of economic enterprise only succeed when they give customers what they want. Making money may be the thing that drives self-interested businesses but a successful business will know that giving customers what they demand is the only reliable road to profit.
Smith was not blind to self-interest’s possible excesses. He understood that self-interest had to exist within certain moral and institutional restraints and was an early advocate of competition policies as a result.
Self-interest isn’t necessarily, or usually, selfish
Many people, particularly on the left, still hate the idea of self-interest and falsely equate it with selfishness and greed. Although bakers may not get up every morning motivated by the idea of feeding their communities with scrumptious croissants or wholemeal loaves, that doesn’t necessarily make them selfish. A baker’s motivations will be mixed. The idea of baking high quality goods may be part of his driving force but few bakers would rise at ungodly hours to fire the oven if they weren’t getting paid. Earning a decent living isn’t such a selfish thing. The selfish thing is to sit at home waiting for the state to supply the good life. The baker may well have a family to provide for, too. He will be working to put food on his family’s table or take his wife and daughters to Disneyland.
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