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Aim:
Identify thinkers and ideas
that supported
industrialization
The Philosophers of Industrialization
19th Century: Industrial Revolution
opened a wide gap between the rich &
poor

Business leaders believed that governments
should stay out of business & economic
affairs


Laissez Faire:
Refers to the economic policy of letting
owners of industry & business set working
conditions without interference
 Policy favors a free market unregulated by
the government
 Stemmed from French economic
philosophers of the Enlightenment
 Argued that government regulations only
interfered with the production of wealth
 Philosophers believed that if government
allowed free trade, then the economy would
prosper

Adam Smith & The Wealth of Nations
Professor at the University of
Glasgow, Scotland

Defended the idea of a free economy or
free market


1776: Writes the Wealth of Nations
Claims economic liberty guaranteed
economic progress
 Result: Government should not interfere

Smith’s argument rested on what he
called the three natural laws of

economics
Law of self-interest
 Law of competition
 Law of supply & demand

The Economists of Capitalism
Smith’s basic ideas were supported
by British economists Thomas
Malthus & David Ricardo

Believed that natural laws governed
economic life
 Important ideas were the foundations of
laissez-faire capitalism


Capitalism:
Economic system in which the factors of
production are privately owned & money is
invested in business ventures to make a profit

Laissez-Faire thinkers such as
Smith, Malthus, & Ricardo opposed
government efforts to help poor wages

Thought that creating minimum wage laws
& better working conditions would upset the
free market system
