The Quest for Individual Freedom in Liberalism

Liberalism is one of the principal doctrines in Western political philosophy. Its core values are typically expressed in terms of individual freedom and equality. How these two ought to be understood is a matter of dispute so that they are often differently declined in different places or among different groups. Even so, it is typical to associate liberalism with democracy, capitalism, freedom of religion, and human rights. Liberalism is has been mostly defended in England and the United States. Among the authors that most contributed to the development of liberalism, John Locke (1632-1704) and John Stuart Mill (1808-1873). Early Liberalism Political and civic behavior describable as liberal can be found across the history of humanity, but liberalism as a full-fledged doctrine can be traced back to approximately three hundred and fifty years ago, in northern Europe, England, and Holland in particular. It should be remarked, however, that the history of liberalism is entrenched with the one of an earlier cultural movement, namely humanism, which flourished in central Europe, especially in Florence, in the 1300 and 1400s, reaching its apex during Renaissance, in fifteen hundreds. It is indeed in those countries that most delved into the exercise of free trade and exchange of people and ideas that liberalism thrived. The Revolution of 1688 marks, from this perspective, an important date for liberal doctrine, underlined by the success of entrepreneurs such as Lord Shaftesbury and authors such as John Locke, who returned to England after 1688 and resolved to finally publish his masterpiece, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), wherein he provided also a defense of individual liberties that are key to the liberalist doctrine. Modern Liberalism Despite its recent origins, liberalism has an articulated history testifying of its key role in modern Western society. The two great revolutions, in America (1776) and France (1789) refined some of the key ideas behind liberalism: democracy, equal rights, human rights, the separation between State and religion and freedom of religion, the focus on the individual well-being. The 19th century was a period of intense refinement of the values of liberalism, which had to face the novel economic and social conditions posed by incipient industrial revolution. Not only authors such as John Stuart Mill gave a fundamental contribution to liberalism, bringing to the philosophical attention topics such as freedom of speech, the liberties of women and of slaves; but also the birth of the socialist and communist doctrines, among others under the influence of Karl Marx and the French utopists, forced liberalists to refine their views and bond into more cohesive political groups. In the 20th century, liberalism was restated to adjust to the changing economic situation by authors such as Ludwig von Mises and John Maynard Keynes. The politics and lifestyle diffused by the Unites States throughout the world, then, gave a key impulse to the success of liberal lifestyle, at least in practice if not in principle. In more recent decades, liberalism has been used also to address the pressing issues of the crisis of capitalism and the globalized society. As the 21st century enters into its central phase, liberalism is still a driving doctrine that inspires political leaders and individual citizens. It is the duty of all those who live in a civil society to confront with such a doctrine. Sources: Bourdieu, Pierre.  The Essence of Neoliberalism.  http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/08bourdieu. Britannica Online Encyclopedia.  Liberalism.  https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism. The Liberty Fund.  Online Library. http://oll.libertyfund.org/. Hayek, Friedrich A.  Liberalism.   http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/oldwhig4ever/ .Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Liberalism.  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberalism/.

Happiness Is A State Of Contentment - 805 Words

What is happiness? Happiness is a state of contentment. For instance, when I was a child at the age of 5 years old, I would find happiness by eating dirt, playing hide and seek, and being with my older siblings. The connotation could be defined in many actions; it depends on who the question is towards. If somebody just sees the negative aspects of life he does not notice the wonderful ones. Happiness comes in a whole variety of ways. Whenever a kindergartner is asked what makes him happy, he would say hugging family,† â€Å"eating candy,† â€Å"playing with toys,â€Å" and â€Å"friends.† If a kindergartener says giving hugs or receiving hugs, for instance; the hug of his parents how his father scent of cologne he puts before he goes to work. The scent of his mother s perfume which he helped choosing with his dad. How their hearts beat next to his ear as they hug him. This type of comfort is near love which he feels with the people closest to his heart hugs him he then gets the joy of glee. Happiness is found everywhere and one must simply search in the right places to find it. For instance, someone who just learned how to tie his shoes could demonstrate happiness by getting his shoe and declaring how he learned. While he ties his shoes and hears the encouragement of his parents saying â€Å"you can do it† it then leads him to touch his shoes and sees it accomplished. These are some common examples of experiences of this emotion known as happiness. 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Trends in Income and Price Elasticity of Transport †Free Samples

Questions: 1. Define and explain the three key economic ideas: 2. Using the economics or other literature to identify estimates of the income elasticity of demand for at least three different products. Answers: Define and explain the three key economic ideas: People are rational: Rationality plays an important role in the field of economics. It is a common to assume that people are rational in behaviour. They choose a bundle of goods, from the given alternatives, which gives them highest level of satisfaction. The resources are taken to be constant and the decision is made according to the priorities and preferences(Mathis Steffen, 2012). Consumer, producers and society try to maximise their level of satisfaction, profits and welfare respectively. They all work at margin. A consumer tries to consume a commodity till the point his satisfaction from additional unit turns to zero, given his level of income and prevailing prices(Krstic Krstic, 2015). Producer produces till the point where his gains from additional unit turn to zero. For example, if George produces belts, he will produce till the point where his profits (revenue- cost) turn to zero with given resources and technology. There is no incentive for him to produce further as the c osts will be higher than the revenue. People respond to incentives: Incentive motivates consumers, producers and society to increase their consumption, production and welfare respectively. A rational person compares his costs to his gains. Positive incentives increase the gains of each while the negative ones forbid further consumption or production(Cardinaels Jia, 2010). Fall in prices is a positive incentive for consumers to increase their consumption while the same phenomenon is negative for the producers and vice versa. They then decrease their production until the increase in demand (because of lower price) pushes the prices back to the initial value. Decline in prices both increases the demand and decrease the production. Producers decrease the output because their profits are reduced(MatthewMcCaffrey, 2014). For example, if the price of apples falls, Serena increases her consumption of apples with her given level of income. The reduced prices acts as in incentive and persuades Serena to increase her satisfaction with increased consumption. Optimal decisions are made at the margin: A rational person makes a decision based on a given number of alternatives. He trade-offs the ones associated with lesser satisfaction for the better ones, as per his preferences. These decisions are made with respect to the existing circumstances. It is about increase or decrease in the current consumption or production. Decisions are never about all or none. Optimum decisions are made in terms of satisfaction or profits derived from the subsequent unit. Decision will be favourable when the satisfaction or gains from the subsequent unit exceeds the cost or it and vice versa. At the optimum level, marginal cost is equal to marginal revenue. After this point, gains are less than the costs and the production or consumption is reduced(Lunenburg, 2010). For example, Dan, a bread baker, uses marginal analysis to compare the costs and gains associated with the additional production of breads. He employs his funds and other resources to increase the production when there is high demand. The gains will be more than the cost associated with the production increase. Using the economics or other literature to identify estimates of the income elasticity of demand for at least three different products. Income Elasticity of Demand estimates: Income elasticity of demand refers to the responsiveness of demanded quantity of a good for a given change in the income of the consumer(Fouquet, 2010). It is used to estimate the future production gains associated with the rise in the income level of the consumers. It can be calculated as follows: Income elasticity of demand () The income elasticity of demand has a range from zero to infinity. As the value of elasticity gets closer to infinity, the more elastic is the good. If the magnitude is closer to zero, then the good is inelastic to the income. Income elasticity range is as follows: Value Elasticity 0 Perfectly Inelastic 0 1 Relatively Inelastic 1 Unit Elastic 1 Relatively Elastic Perfectly Elastic Income elasticity of demand bifurcates goods into normal and inferior. Normal goods have a positive relationship between income level and demand while inferior goods demand increases with the decrease in income level and vice versa(Khan, 2012). Normal goods: Income Elasticity is positive Necessity goods: Income Elasticity is positive but low Luxury goods: Income Elasticity is positive and high Comfort goods: Income Elasticity is unitary (=1) Inferior goods: Income Elasticity is negative High income elasticity of demand implies that a small change in the income of the consumer, changes the demand significantly. That is the demand is very sensitive to the change in income(Fouquet, 2010). The negative sign is an indicator of negative relation between the income of the consumer and demand of the good. This implies it is an inferior good. Positive sign implies normal goods, which can be necessities, luxuries or comforts(King Weimer, 2012). Examples for income elasticity are: Suppose Daniels income increases by 15%, his demand of bread increases by 3%. Income elasticity of bread in this case will be as follows: Bread is a necessity for Daniel. Even though his income has increased, the demand for bread is not affected much. He may increase his consumption to some extent but it is not significantly high. He will consume bread even if his income decreases. The value of elasticity is positive but low. Thus, it implies that the income elasticity of necessities is relatively inelastic. Assume that the consumers income increases by 20% and the demand of gold increases by 80%. The income elasticity here will be: As can be seen, income elasticity in case of luxury goods like gold, income elasticity is high and positive. This shows that the luxury goods are relatively income elastic. Alteration in the income of the consumer results into high demand for the luxuries. If the income of the consumer rises by 20%, the demand for public transport like busses falls by 40%. Income elasticity of public busses is as follows: The negative sign only signifies that it is an inferior good. Here, the income elasticity is negative and relatively elastic. When the income of the consumer rises, the demand for inferior good gets reduced. Since, the quality of the goods is low; people opt for better options with the increased income. They switch to cabs in the given case. References Cardinaels, E., Jia, Y. (2010). The Impact of Economic Incentives and Peer Influences. Retrieved March 09, 2018, from file:///C:/Users/%234079/Downloads/econ_incent_peers_honesty_final_draft.pdf Fouquet, R. (2010). Trends in Income and Price Elasticities of Transport Demand (1850-2010). Energy Policy, 50, 50-61. Khan, S. (2012, June). Income Elasticities of Demand for major consumption items. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 02(06). King, M. K., Weimer, D. L. (2012). Price and Income Elasticities of Demand for Energy. Theory and Practices for Energy Education, Training, Regulation and Standards. Krstic, B., Krstic, M. (2015). Rational Choice Theory and Random Behvaviour. Original Scientific Article, 61(01), 1-13. Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). The Decision Making Process. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 27(04). Mathis, K., Steffen, A. D. (2012). From Rational Choice to Behavioural. Retrieved March 09, 2018, from https://www.unilu.ch/fileadmin/fakultaeten/rf/mathis/Dok/1_Mathis_Steffen_From_Rational_Choice_to_Behavioural_Economics.pdf MatthewMcCaffrey. (2014). Incetive and Economic Point of View: The Case of Popular Economics. The Review of Social and Economic Issues, 01(01), 71-87.