“So what are we to make of this unexpected persistence of capitalism? John Kenneth Galbraith once observed, with respect to American capitalism, that “in principle the economy pleased no one; in practice it satisfied most.”2 Behind this observation is the familiar story of economic growth and diminished material scarcity. People didn’t like the concept of a market economy, but they had to admit that it did a good job of putting bread on the table. Yet the unease and suspicion have never gone away. A recent study by moral psychologists showed that a solid majority of Americans think it is immoral for businesses to raise prices in response to scarcity (say, charging more for shovels after a big snowstorm).3 But since having prices that will go up in response to scarcity is the single most important advantage of having a capitalist economic system, this moral intuition reveals something of a public relations problem for fans of the free market.”
Excerpt From: Joseph Heath. “Economics Without Illusions.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/Gsw_y.l