Weekly Thought Evaluations (WTEs) #5

Weekly Thought Evaluations (WTEs). Each week, the instructor will ask for a 3-5 page paper on the current week’s topic. The content of the paper will respond to the topic by including a summary of the relevant chapter and/or readings and an application of that chapter material to the topic.

WTE 5

Please prepare a 3-5 page paper in response to this narrative and upload as indicated.

Adam Smith “discovered” profit as distinct from “wages of superintendence” by noting that capitalists received a return proportionate to their capital, which did not appear to be related to any intrinsic or learned skill or management responsibility that they might have.

Is profit an appropriate method for distributing income, in light of Smith’s discovery?  What is Smith’s opinion?  What are alternative views?  In the U.S. today, what is different about profit compared to Smith’s observations of his time period?