AB, International Relations, William & Mary

MBA, Management, Troy University

The Stackhouse Agency, LLC

www.StackhouseAgency.com

August 23, 2015

Content

--Behavior, Economic Policy, Growth, Individuals, Investment, Markets, Society

Behavior is an important factor in economic thought. Transactions, investment, and growth are impacted by behavior. Behavior may often be considered as an attribute in markets.

“The market is not a place; it is a process, it is the way in which, by selling and buying, by producing and consuming, the individuals contribute to the total workings of society.”[1]

Individuals play a considerable role in the growth of the overall economy. The initiatives of individuals have led to innovation and accessibility to a variety of products, services, and specialized knowledge. “[Historically,] [r]ather than plundering wealth, [those preoccupied with specialists in violence] … had instead to elicit its creation. They had to nurture, rather than to despoil, the new economy. They had to adopt policies that facilitated the growth of towns.”[2] The description of history and changes in economic conditions may lead some to yearn for various levels of intervention or the lessening of defined restraints. Certainty is a major factor in economic analysis as behavior results in varied outcomes. The distinctions of time and desires lead to certain actions.

Such distinctions may then become more noticeable. “Economic development occurs when persons form capital and invest, making present sacrifices in order to reap future gains.”[3] In looking at behavior, actions, and policy – wealth and economic growth may be quantified by various means.

One conclusion is that, “A country becomes more prosperous in proportion to the rise in the invested capital per unit of its population.”[4]

Behavior is one aspect of economic thought. Policy is a reality in which we frame our place in the world. Our individual economic choices and attention to policy allow for individual growth and for slight adaptation in our economic milieu.

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Representation of specific organizations is not implied.

[1] Ludwig von Mises, Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow, comp. Bettina Bien Greaves (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006), 17.

[2] Robert H. Bates, Prosperity & Violence: The Political Economy of Development, 2nd Ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010), 42.

[3] Ibid, 84.

[4] Ludwig von Mises, 14.