The Change Of The East India Company Monopoly

Economics is the study of choice and the consequences that come from said choices. Ever since the 18th century, economists have continued to argue about theories that could improve society to the greatest extent. Two great economists, Adam Smith and Karl Marx, proved to develop opposing ideologies that would soon become the foundation of the two most popular political philosophies. Even though they voiced opposing views, Smith and Marx have truly made the greatest impact on contemporary economic theory in the United States because without them, our capitalist economy would not be what it is today.

Smith advocated for free trade for a country. A country should export more than it imports. This stimulates the growth of the economy. Adam Smith was an optimist who sought the best for his country.

It is said Smith’s mother led him to his scholarly efforts. By 1740, Smith had developed a passion for freedom in that personal freedom and liberty will lead to the best possible outcome. Because of this, Smith is often regarded as an essential proponent in laissez-faire. By 1748, Smith was teaching and giving lectures at Edinburgh. It was here that Smith first established his economic thoughts about freedom and liberty. By his late 20’s, Smith had already developed the passion for liberty, reason, and free speech.

Dilorenzo, an economic historian, is often questioned about his ethics and credibility to write such a critical book. There are different branches within the historical field of study. The economy plays into society and government today, as it plays a major role in our history. The economy is a substantial part

Since the early days of the United States, the Founding Fathers and other brilliant minds sought ways to understand and make sense of the inner workings of society and the economic market. Out of the many thinkers and developers of that time period, perhaps none made so great an impact on American society as the Scottish contemporary philosopher and political economist, Adam Smith—who is most known for his influential work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, By the early nineteenth century, other streams of economic theory emerged from various individuals who were also influenced by the ideas of Smith. Some of these individuals included David Ricardo, Karl Marx and later John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman—each of whom contributed their own ideas on economic activity. However, it was Smith’s ideas on capitalism and his laissez-faire approach to free markets that have transcended other economic theories and continue to impact American economic thought to this day.

In this essay, I have two primary objectives. The first, and key objective, is to examine Adam Smith’s criticism of the Corn Laws. Smith argues that the Corn Laws are wrong on practical grounds, because he shows that enacting a free market system is much more effective at regulating the corn market by controlling prices and demand more efficiently; and through this he also introduces the moral dilemma with the corn laws; that the laws created an injustice on the people, in particular the farmers and dealers, because it does not allow them to work to their own advantage and self-interest; whereas people should have the right to trade freely. This will then follow on to my next discussion, where I deliberate what we can learn from Smith’s discussion on the moral limits of markets, i.e. the state should not intervene in the market, because doing so can create many moral problems.

As a simple definition, The East India Company originally began as a private company with which Queen Elizabeth I granted a trade monopoly with the East Indies. This company soon grew to be a company like no other and became almost sovereign in its powers. Due to the greatness of this Company, it had many opposers- the most well known, not to mention the most outspoken, of these being Adam Smith. He opposed the East India Company’s practice of mercantilism as he believed that it took away many of the liberties of man and only benefited the select group of people who were in the upper classes of society. Adam Smith believed strongly in the idea of “Laissez Faire” economics- in other words he believed that the government should simply leave free enterprise to shift for itself. To Smith, the East India Company represented everything that he was against. The government granted this Company a monopoly and other economic privileges that caused a great interference to the natural course of the free market system. In addition, the Company showed continuously that its interests were not for the good of the people, but for the wealth of the Company. Unsurprisingly, Smith was was not alone in his dislike of the Company, as a matter of fact, the society in which he lived shared much of his animosity for the East India Company. Many in this society shared the belief that the Company’s monopoly and corrupt economic privileges were harming the economy and depriving workers of their

Adam Smith often proclaimed in his lectures “Man is an anxious animal” (Buchholz, Pg. 23). Adam Smith was born in Kircaldy, Scotland in 1723. Smith was a very bright young man he attended the University of Glasgow at fourteen and then later attended Balliol College, Oxford. He was intending to study theology and enter the clergy like most students in his time. Smith loathed academic censorship and also complained about his book, David Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature, being confiscated from him. Refusing to continue preparing for Clergy, Adam returned back to his home and provided public lectures on rhetoric and law. In 1748, he returned back to the University of Glasgow and taught logic then the next year he replaced his former professor Francis Hutcherson and taught moral philosophy. Smith later published two books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations.

The East India Company was a British joint-stock company establish on the 31st of December, 1600 under the original name ‘The Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies.’ Over the next hundreds of years the Company set a sail attempting to find riches in trade on their journeys to these new lands. They found value in crops such as indigo, salt, cotton, silk, opium and other cash crops that the barren land of Europe lacked. This would be the company that would set sail to the land of India and dominate its soil from the middle of 1700’s to the middle of the 1800’s.

Adam Smith is considered as one of the most influential economists in the 18th century. Although his theories have been criticized by several socialist economists, however, his idea of capitalism still has great impact to the rest of the economists during classical, neo classical periods and the structure of today’s economy. Even the former Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher had praised on Smith’s contribution on today’s capitalism market. She commented “Adam Smith, in fact, heralded the end of the strait-jacket of feudalism and released all the innate energy of private initiative and enterprise which enable wealth to be created on a scale never before contemplated” (Copley and Sutherland 1995, 2). Smith is also being recognized

Smith started a career as a lecturer at both Oxford University and the University of Glasgow. The turning point of his life to revolutionary change was in 1764, when he became the tutor of a young duke and travelled with him around Europe for more than two years. It was this trip that not only gave him the opportunity to meet many other great thinkers, but it also provided him with enough money to return home and focus on producing his most famous book, Wealth of Nations (1776) .

The earliest organized school of economic thought is known as Classical. The father of this school is Adam Smith. Smith used the concept of the invisible hand to describe the role of the market in the allocation of resources. In the market, the interaction of demand and supply determines how much of a good will be produced and the price that is charged for that good. Absent any explicit guidance mechanism, the invisible hand guides participants in the market towards an outcome that efficiently allocates resources to the production of goods that society desires.

One of the most highly contested and controversial economic concepts is Say's law, or the law of markets, an economic theory associated with French economist and businessman Jean-Baptiste Say. The law itself is embedded in ambiguity, and is usually associated as being one of the underlying assumptions in classical economics. Say's law is frequently described as 'supply creates its own demand' which is a term that was made famous by John Maynard Keynes in his General Theory. This essay however, will use a

Adam Smith is considered to be the founder of a major field called Microeconomics, which is concerned with the behavior of individual entities such as markets, firms, and households. In 1776 Smith published The Wealth of Nations, a series

According to the above information , there are given improvements in the new Organizational Chart :