The Social Values of Economic Organization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9257175 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joseph W Mcguire (University of California System, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1974 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 62-69 |
| Publication date | 1974-04-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Review of Social Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6764 • E-ISSN: 1470-1162 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00346767400000005 |
| OpenAlex | W2086195041 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
Among the attributes of the traditional theory of economic organiza? tions two, in particular, have given considerable comfort to many economists. First, while perhaps it may be conceded that its assumptions are somewhat unrealistic, this theory does permit accurate predictions of business behavior to be made.1 And, second, the theory does enable economists to explain how, under ideal environmental conditions, the public interest can best be served through a multitude of private, free, economic organizations seeking to promote their own economic, financial, private profit. In this paper the validity of only the first of these attributes of tradi? tional theory will be examined. It will be argued that because of the fuzzy nature of profits and profit maximization, and because of the effects of social values on the entrepreneur: (1) The traditional theory of economic organization has only limited predictive usefulness. That is, it neither provides definitive guidelines for the entrepreneur, nor does it enable external observers to predict business behavior with any great degree of confidence. And, (2) the theory fails to reflect fully the public costs that do, or may, arise from the activities of profit maximization, and thereby takes a biased view of the social benefits of economic organization. The paper concludes by briefly sketching a modified theory of economic organization that will accommodate social values and produce a wider vision of social costs and benefits than tradition permits
Economics · Ideal (ethics) · Maximization · Microeconomics · Multitude · Political science · Positive economics · Profit (economics) · Profit maximization · Public economics · Economic Theory and Institutions
| Highly cited | No |
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