Program Information

Some analysts say there is little room for moral decision-making in the marketplace.

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Transcript

Lead: Some analysts say there is little room for moral decision-making in the marketplace.

Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: The triumph of the market as the most efficient means of allocating scarce economic resources is a well-established fact. Despite the fascination of politicians and philosophers with socialism during the twentieth century, that is a system that is rife with waste and in the end fails to economically elevate the very population it seeks to benefit. After all the sound and fury, after all the failed experiments, by the 1990s it was clear that only a free market regimen rewards hard work and risk to a degree that creates a surplus sufficient to improve standards of living. Even governments that are committed to socialism or the command economy--at one level or another--pay homage to the marketplace, in hopes of reaping its generous rewards.

The problem with the unencumbered market is nearly always the human factor. Economic enterprise can only succeed with human participation. Decisions made for purely economic purposes often hurt people, at least in the short term. Therefore, those societies that have most enthusiastically embraced the market economy have also built in safeguards to protect those people considered most vulnerable to the so-called storms of life. Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance are examples of ways to get people through hard times when market forces turn against them.

Also, individuals make countless business decisions daily that confirm one of the most important facts of life: People--their talent, energy and intellect--are the most important asset of any commercial enterprise. This factor must figure into any business calculation.

Next time: Aaron Fuerstein and Malden Mills.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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