The Art of Principled Entrepreneurship by Andreas Widmer

Author:Andreas Widmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637740705
Publisher: BenBella Books
Published: 2021-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Principled Entrepreneurship Benefits Everyone

Our current system aims to produce a free and competitive market economy. For simplicity’s sake, we call it capitalism. This is not the best name for it, but that’s a topic for another time. Our economic system is not perfect, but let’s take stock of some of its important achievements.

First, access to global markets is generally a good thing for all countries. Exports and imports have greatly improved the living standards of every country on Earth and this progress wouldn’t exist without capitalism. Both sides win when we trade, especially when we trade free and fair. (Think of the Grameen Phone example.)

Second, the vast majority of humanity lived in poverty for thousands of years. Thanks to capitalism, the number of people living in abject poverty is, for the first time in human history, down to around 10 percent. And for the first time ever, we have a realistic chance of bringing that down to 0 percent. Think of it: Not one person in the world need be in abject poverty! Everyone wins when we create value in the private sector.5

A third positive result of the current system is that an increasing majority of countries are led by rule of law. Human rights and freedom of conscience are more respected and observed than they’ve been at any time in human history. Competitive commerce, because it is trust-based, allows justice and prosperity to emerge and win.

Fourth and finally, human health and longevity are also at all-time highs—notwithstanding the recent COVID-19 crisis. The prosperity that spreads with free markets simultaneously makes for a healthier humanity.6

These positive developments are clearly the result of our competitive free market system because the advances mostly happened since the 1980s during which time there was little competition from other economic systems on offer. This is a fact often disregarded by the “business is a zero-sum activity” argument. There is clear evidence that the approach of the last forty years has had tremendously positive results.

That is not to say that every problem has been solved, but no system has brought about more inclusion, or lifted more people out of abject poverty more rapidly, than the free market system. If we look at the outcome so far, we can easily see that the general trend of the free market is the creation of win-win solutions on all levels.

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