Capitalism and Related Ethical Issues

CAPITALISM AND RELATED ETHICAL ISSUES.

Capitalism is an economic system that emphasizes private ownership of the means of production or a privately controlled economy. In a capitalist society, you have a free market and companies live by the profit motive. They exist to make money. Prices, production, and the distribution of goods are determined by competition in a free market.

Like wise, Ethics is the branch of study dealing with what is the proper course of action for man. It answers the question, "What do I do?" It is the study of right and wrong in human endeavors. At a more fundamental level, it is the method by which we categorize our values and pursue them. Ethics studies values and virtues.

However, this ethics paper is written to determine if capitalism is a good economic system, secondly to ascertain if capitalism is in the interest of the society at large, like wise to determine who are the beneficiary of the "good" capitalism has to offer and to see if there can be a balance between capitalism and ethics in the business world.

We all know capitalism is effective at producing wealth in a nation; it is characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. The question now when private business owners determine price and control all economic resources is it at interest of the society? Does private ownership create balance economic system; does it make the rich, richer, rich poorer, poor richer and the poor, poorer? Capitalism has always being a self interest oriented economic system, ownership of business set up businesses with the intention of maximizing profit, make pricing decision that are favorable to them and effectively utilize on available factor of production with the intention of exploitation, with little or no good returns to the society at large. However, we can't dispute the positive impact of capitalism, because it provides job, availability of goods at different competitive price and the society can make decision on what they want base on its affordability.

The importance of capitalism in each economy cannot be under-estimated, is actually known to be good and bring about growth and wealth in a nation. But how do we establish if capitalism is a good economy system? A capitalist economy like Nigeria and some other countries experience exploitation from owners of businesses if there are no governmental control over price decision and stipulated standard for production. Minimum wage is designed to help employees, it is a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons but it is a loss to the employers. Owner

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