Liberalsim Key Thinkers-> The Economy

Question 1

John Locke

Answer 1

State policy should respect the ‘natural right’ to private property and arbitrate effectively between individuals competing for trade and resources.

Question 2

Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 2

A free-market economy would be energised by the enterprise of liberated women.

Question 3

John Stuart Mill

Answer 3

L aissez-faire capitalism was vital to progress, individual enterprise and individual initiative.

Question 4

John Rawls

Answer 4

Free-market capitalism should be tempered by the state’s obligation to advance its poorest citizens.

Question 5

Betty Friedan

Answer 5

Free-market capitalism could be an ally of female emancipation, if allied to legislation precluding sexual discrimination.

Question 6

Tensions within liberalism- the economy

Answer 6

The economy: following Locke’s assertion that property is a ‘natural right’, all liberals believe that the economy should be based on private property and private enterprise. However, while classical liberals and neo-liberals support Adam Smith’s thesis (that the state should adopt
a laissez-faire attitude to the economy), modern liberals have more sympathy for the view
of John Maynard Keynes (that capitalism requires regular state management to ensure full employment). Modern liberalism’s belief in ‘managed’ capitalism also explains its support for supranational organisations like the European Union, which many neo-liberals see as an obstacle to global free trade.
Chapter 1 Liberalism
39