Do the economics choices of individuals benefit society as a whole?

Question

Do you think that Adam Smith is correct? Do the economics choices of individuals benefit society as a whole? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

They can benefit and they can damage.

Every single thing you do in life has an effect and the ones with an economic component are no different. When you buy a product with lots of packaging that can't be recycled you add to the landfill problem. When you buy fair trade items you help the people who grow or make them. When you buy anything made in China you add to the trade deficit. Each individual choice makes only a tiny difference but when you add up all the choices of all the people the effect is massive. If everyone understood how important their economic choices are and thought about the 'big picture' every time they spent so much as a penny they could change the world.

Answer 2

Yes and No. It depends on the choices made. Choices that are made that make money and drive the economy to grow are good choices and benefit society. Those choices that drive us into debt are detrimental to us. The more in debt people are the more dependent they can be on govornment assistance. A society can't live if there is no money to feed it. If economics recede then so does our society. That's why Washington gets into such an uproar about any recession.