Introduction
Creating a moral, economic system should be the ultimate goal of every society. A moral economy is one that is founded on the principles of justice, fairness and goodness. A moral, economic system ensures equitable allocation of resources that are scarce in nature and configures markets to ensure that they run in a fair manner. The results are to realize a stable economy that is free from exploitation, political insecurity and wars. A moral, economic system fosters peace and satisfaction among the citizens of a nation (SEA, Browne, &Milgram, 2009). It also creates a level ground for fair competition among various economic drivers reducing negative rivalry that is retrogressive to economic development and welfare hence the general improvement of the gross domestic product. A good GDP creates a good environment to run economic activities that lead to the increment government revenues and improvement of the infrastructure.
Free market and Capitalism
In a free market, the market is left under the control of demand and supply. However, this can be taken advantage of by the capitalists who are out to leap the best from the economy. The profit maximization that prevails in a free market is a threat to the move towards a moral, economic system (SEA, Browne, &Milgram, 2009). Capitalist have always found immoral ways of interfering with the market forces of demand and supplies. For example, hoarding of goods has been a common practice in free markets creating unnecessary shortages of goods to increase the demand. To maintain a moral, economic system, the government ought to intervene and impose price ceilings and tariffs on some products, minimum wages, regulate money supplies and monopolies to ensure that justice and fairness prevail in the market.
Socialism
According to Kai Nielsen (1985), socialism exemplifies moral values in the economy compared to capitalism. Although socialism has had a bad press in North America, it is morally preferable to capitalism as it is evident that it gives rise to a moral social-economic system. Socialism advocates for public ownership of property. From a macro perspective, publicly owned property can be shared or used equitably by the public. Many governments in the world have understood the need to give public ownership of land, water sources, forests and other scarce resources so as to protects everyone’s right to access them(SEA, Browne, &Milgram, 2009). Such a method of ownership is basically the concept of socialism in practice. It means that everything in a socialism system is subject a genuine political determination by members of public. The productive property, therefore, ceases to be the preserve of the elite state bureaucrats but is rather subjected to a popular and democratic control that is moral. The popular sovereignty is paramount in socialism, and it means respect to the rights of the citizenry. Interests that are not directed to the common good of the society at large should be discarded (SEA, Browne, &Milgram, 2009). Scarce resources become common utilities for everyone and all members assume the duty to care for these resources hence orderliness and economic morality.
Conclusion
A moral, economic system is the ideal means of achieving economic growth and development. Adoption of the right economic system is, therefore, necessary to the achievement of a moral economy since not all of them, advocates for the key moral values. Nevertheless, regulation of markets is equally important as it provides grounds for moral practices and cultivates moral values. By virtue of allocating scarce resources equitably, a moral, economic system should be a parameter of the economic sustainability.
References
Nielsen, K. (1985). Equality and liberty: A defense of radical egalitarianism. Totowa, N.J: Rowman and Allanheld.
Society for Economic Anthropology (U.S.)., Browne, K. E., &Milgram, B. L. (2009). Economics and morality: Anthropological approaches. Lanham: AltaMira Press.
