The Cold War is often described as a struggle between capitalism and communism. The winner, though, was the mixed economy.
That's how it had to be. How to organize human productive activity is too complex and contingent a question to be answered by any grand theory. We do things in many ways, as we should.
Markets are good for producing consumer goods like smartphones. Government is good for building infrastructure and redistributing wealth so that the poor aren't doomed. Families operate to satisfy all kinds of human needs. Charity isn't as strong a force as others above but it's usually pointed at doing very nice things. And sometimes, somehow, groups of people spontaneously generate Wikipedia.
Depending on the conditions, any of these systems may be optimal for organizing some sphere of activity. I doubt any economic theory that unduly constrains our options, so that we can't use all these systems or invent others. And I doubt any theory of rights so proprietary to one of these systems that it would treat the others as unjust.
That's how it had to be. How to organize human productive activity is too complex and contingent a question to be answered by any grand theory. We do things in many ways, as we should.
Markets are good for producing consumer goods like smartphones. Government is good for building infrastructure and redistributing wealth so that the poor aren't doomed. Families operate to satisfy all kinds of human needs. Charity isn't as strong a force as others above but it's usually pointed at doing very nice things. And sometimes, somehow, groups of people spontaneously generate Wikipedia.
Depending on the conditions, any of these systems may be optimal for organizing some sphere of activity. I doubt any economic theory that unduly constrains our options, so that we can't use all these systems or invent others. And I doubt any theory of rights so proprietary to one of these systems that it would treat the others as unjust.
