Dear Mom and Dad, I was pleased to discover that you were interested in what I had learned in Econ this year. In this letter I will explain the role of governments play in capitalist societies according to three famous economists. Adam Smith (the first general economist), Karl Marx (the most influential socialist), and John Maynard Keynes (arguably the most important economist of the 20th century) all had unique ideas pertaining to the amount of power governments should have in economies. However despite these individuals impact on economics only parts of their theories were ever utilized in real economies. Adam Smith 1776 work, “An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, provided the frame that the free market economic …show more content…
Marx felt that the current system of economics, and in general the free market system although containing some benefits was at its core unfair. He felt that only the capitalists received true benefits and exploited the labors for their own personal agendas. The people who owned the means of production received all of the benefits and therefore had power of the labors. He felt that this would create a class struggle between the capitalists and labors which would eventually be the destruction of capitalism. This appealed to him, due to how he believed that capitalism would be the last mode of production (the economic system being the base of society) that driven by an upper class. He promoted that society should own the means of production and not individuals. He felt that the governments should play a role in ensuring that the modes of production within an economy remain in the hands of the citizens and should actively prevent the capitalists from exploiting individuals. This would lead to significant government regulations on the economy, something Smith wholeheartedly disagreed with. All these theories were outlined in his works, “The Communist Manifesto”, and “Das