Altruism in the Family and Selfishness in the Market Place

Adam Smith argued in a famous passage that people are selfish in their market transactions: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages" (1937, p. 14). In an earlier study, he said with irony, "We are not ready to suspect any person of being defective in selfishness" (1853, p. 446). Selfishness in market transactions has been assumed in practically all subsequent discussions of the economic system. Objections were dismissed with vague allusions to "human nature" or with an assertion that altruism loses out to selfishness in the struggle to survive in the market sector. Yet altruism is generally recognized to be important within a family. Again, Adam Smith said:

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