Compassionate capitalism: The condition of the United States economy today through the lens of Adam Smith, Rabbi Sacks, and the Gini coefficient
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Abstract
As Jews and Americans, we hold our home in the United States with such high regard. We take pride in how the United States is renowned as a world power, with the largest economy in the world. We have incredible infrastructure, high birth rates, low unemployment rates, and serve as a home for so many various peoples. Many of the ideals that have set the tone for our country come from the founding fathers of the 18th century. Several other figures from around the same time had a great influence on our founding ideology as well, including arguably the world’s most famous economist, Adam Smith. In his famous works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and The Wealth of Nations (1776), he puts forth the ideal conception of a capitalistic society. While his ideals laid the groundwork for American capitalism, it is important to consider whether our economy today actually remains true to his conception. To find whether this is true, it is pivotal to understand Smith’s original ideas, current policy in the United States, and the actual statistics of the United States’ economy today. Furthermore, we can learn so much about how we as Jews can approach capitalism by studying Smith’s works alongside the works of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z”l. Smith and Sacks share many of the same thoughts about what a proper economy would look like, so it is interesting to see how far their conceptions fall from the United States today. (from Introduction)