ECON 409 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Physiocracy, Age Of Enlightenment, Limited Government
Document Summary
Economic state of england was thriving due to private frugality, but the government was notorious for extravagant luxurious spending. Enlightenment era, intellectual movement based on 2 pillars: Theories influenced by those of quesnay and turgot (18th century group of french physiocratic economists) Individual morality drives individuals to be able to function in a workable society. Social (compassion) vs. unsocial passions (resentment): sympathize with success more than failure, which prompts us to parade our riches and conceal our poverty. Two roads to admiration: (1) wisdom and virtue (2) accumulation of wealth and status. Society is a utility that requires a system of justice. God"s moral rules allow us to apply reason in order to restrain our actions from selfishness. Increases output quantity for three reasons: (1) repeating a single task develops dexterity (2) time is saved (3) once a task is simplified, machinery is invented to increase productivity.
