Mises on private property, freedom, peace, and equality Ludwig von Mises asserts in his book ‘liberalism’ that classical liberal freedoms are essential in promoting peace, social harmony, and general welfare in society. He argues that these freedoms included the rights to private property, equality, and peace. According to Mises (1962), private ownership of property is fundamental in a market economy. Private property regards the factors of production in capital and land. By ensuring private ownership of the factors of production, the owners work towards employing them to meet the needs and satisfaction of other people’s wants (Mises, 1962).
Private ownership of property allows the owners to compete so that they can gain any advantage from their property. The idea that these owners control the factors of production submits them to work towards meeting the demands of the public.
Private ownership allows them to employ the factors of production in the best way possible to satisfy the needs of the consumers. Mises asserts that freedom should become granted to all or else when it gets denied the progress of mankind may become hindered. Freedom allows man to do both good and bad within a society (Mises, 1962).
economic freedom allows individuals to decide on how to integrate themselves within a society. He postulates that without freedom in a market economy, political liberties and bills of rights become deceptive and false. Political and economic freedom must go in tandem to ensure a prosperous society. Freedom within a society ensures that the society continues to function even when its members disagree in their judgments (Mises, 1962).
The Term Paper on State Of Nature Consent Society Property
Lockes Argument for the Origin and Practice of Legitimate Authority Through out time there has been a constant struggle between the ideas of social control and the rights of the individual. Even at the present time there are conflicting opinions on how much power the government should have and how much power the individual should have over themselves. John Locke, like many before him, had an idea ...
Freedom ensures that members within a society become interdependent. When members in a society attain economic freedom, they begin to desire such freedom in other areas of their lives.
A desire for freedom in all aspects of a society brings about prosperity and progress. Mises provides two reasons as to why all men should get treated equally under law. He argues that equality ensures that human labor gets to attain its highest productivity (Mises, 1962).
He asserts that a worker must become free to ensure that he enjoys his work and wages. A free worker, according to Mises gets to fully immerse himself in his work such that he becomes fully productive.
Mises also argues that equality gets to ensure social peace. Social peace through equality ensures that there is peaceful development of the division of labor (Mises, 1962).
Social peace can only get attained by respecting the rights and duties of all members of society irrespective of their social class and background. Inequality breeds disenfranchisement in the society among those who feel subjected to it. Mises asserts that society has grown out of peace. He states that war is harmful towards both the conquered and conqueror (Mises, 1962).
He states that war does not create or support creation of wealth through economic action, but it rather destroys what is already in place (Mises, 1962).
A market economy is dependent on peaceful cooperation. It crumbles in the face of war.
A market economy is reliant on peaceful exchange of goods and services and peaceful coexistence among the players. Only through peace can an economic system get to achieve its target of satisfying human needs and wants. Peace helps to bring out progress, success, and prosperity within a society. Mises on superiority of a capitalist system over a socialist system Mises comes out as a strong proponent for capitalism in his book. He distinguishes capitalism as an economic system where men get to provide for themselves and socialism as a system where they get provided for (Mises, 1962).
The Term Paper on The Paper Analyzes The Economic System Of The South Before part 1
The paper analyzes the economic system of the South before the Civil War. The aim of the paper is to provide evidence that the slavery system of the South was practical and profitable. The paper provides research and arguments that slavery would not die out if the Civil War had not occurred. Outline Introduction Discussion Economic system of the South Profitability of cotton industry Slavery ...
He states that capitalism represents unending economic progress through its principle of marketing which aims at satisfying the needs of the populations. He argues that capitalism raises the average standard of living as it provides man with plenty through mass production.
Capitalism relies on competition which forces the owners of production to compete towards supplying the consumers with products of the highest quality at a cheaper price (Mises, 1962).
Capitalism marks an economic democracy where factors of production collide naturally to satisfy wants. Capitalism ensures sovereignty of the consumers and free enterprise for the owners of factors of production. Capitalism also allows for economic planning as individuals and businesses get forced to become interdependent, and thus adjust their plans in accordance to those of others (Mises, 1962).
According to Mises, socialism removes the incentive of profit and loss. It makes the owners of production to become disinterested in organizing their factors of production for mass production (Mises, 1962).
Socialism also curtails the basic principle of private ownership which is fundamental to the prosperity of a society. Socialism implies that the price system gets done away with and there is no process of division of labour. This makes it impossible to undertake economic calculation, planning and coordination leading to chaos in a society (Mises, 1962).
Without economic calculation, it is impossible to undertake any economic activity. He also further argued that since socialism does not stimulate economic planning it relies on government intervention. Government intervention in a socialist system may result to the rise of a supreme dictator who may curtail on the freedoms of society members. Conclusion
The Essay on Capitalism vs. Socialism – Freedom vs. Control
Capitalism and Socialism are two economic systems that have opposing views on the end goal and how to reach it. Capitalism is centered around competition and privatization while Socialism is driven by social equality. As with any philosophy, there are positive and negative aspects. Capitalism’s focus on competitive economics downplays social reform. Socialism’s concentration on social equality ...
Von Mises book on ‘liberalism’ details on the essentials required for the prosperity of a society. He argues that private property, equality, freedom, and peace are the tenets that are necessary for a free and prosperous society. In the book, he also forwards the case for a capitalist system over a socialist economy.
