Somebody in r/askphilosophy asked why philosophers generally lean socialist while economists generally lean towards capitalism. Obviously it’s not as simple as being either capitalist or socialist, and I couldn’t find any data on where economists lean on this subject, but I hope that I can get some insight from you guys as well.
Why are most economists supporters of capitalism?
byu/UsualWord5176 inAskEconomics
Posted by UsualWord5176
2 Comments
The empirical evidence suggests that it’s highly effective in increasing economic growth AND living standards. Other systems do not have the same evidence
i agree that if you ask economists something like “are markets and competition generally good ways of coordinating production and improving living standards”, you’ll get a pretty resounding “yes”.
but it’s also seldom clear what people are responding to when they answer a question about “capitalism” or “socialism”, given that both are pretty ill-defined and essentially all modern economies are mixed. in the r/askphilosophy link, i got the impression some of that was a moral reaction against inequality than it was that they had strong opinions on the efficacy of central planning.