Incentives matter . Private ownership promotes responsibility and cooperation. Trade creates wealth. Profits direct businesses toward activities that increase wealth.
Competition increases efficiency and innovation.
Taxation and regulation discourage production and destroy wealth . Political decision-making favors plunder over production. Central planning wastes resources and retards economic progress. Profits direct businesses toward activities that increase wealth. It is fashionable today to talk about the need for business to temper its pursuit of profits by being more socially or environmentally conscious.