ABSTRACT

The theoretical frame dominating the conventional wisdom's perspective on economic welfare and economic justice is best encapsulated by the concept of Pareto Optimality joined with Milton Friedman's rendition of the survival principle. The focus of the conventional wisdom is on economic welfare: that component of well-being that is related to the consumption of goods and services. This allocation is considered Pareto Optimal if, given the distribution of income, there can be no further reallocation of output between individuals that would increase the economic welfare of one individual without reducing the economic welfare and related utility of the others. Adam Smith is considered to be the penultimate free marketeer, whose masterworks are viewed as benchmarks for an appreciation of the free market, for him is the dual author of both maximal wealth and economic justice.