Selfishness, Greed and Capitalism : Debunking Myths about the Free Market

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The author; Foreword; Preface; Summary; Figures and tables; Part 1; The Straw Men; 1Capitalism relies on greed and selfishness; Incentives and the invisible hand; _GoBack; The parable of the steel company; Is greed good?; Conclusion; 2Economists believe people are perfectly rational; Some models are useful; Rational choice and behavioural economics; Have we found angels to govern us?; Rational consumers and irrational voters; Conclusion; 3Economists think GDP is all that matters; A blind obsession?; Figure 1Public spending in 2013/14 prices (UK); No design for life; Conclusion

4Economists think we live in a free marketA free market is not anarchy; Capitalists don't like free markets; Planning, private and public; Conclusion; PART 2; The Myths; 5The rich get richer and the poor get poorer; Higher wages for all; Figure 2Disposable income (solid line) and GDP (dotted line); Figure 3Real-terms increases in disposable income by quintile; Figure 4Disposable income growth for bottom two quintiles; The progress of the poor relative to the rich; Conclusion; 6We are working ever longer hours; Figure 5Annual working hours in the developed world, 1992-2012

Figure 6UK average hours worked per weekConclusion; 7Rich countries will not benefit from more economic growth; Figure 7Global real GDP per capita; Growth scepticism; In defence of growth; Conclusion; 8There is a paradox of prosperity; Other people's consumerism; Ferraris, Porsches and other preferences; Conclusion; 9Inequality is rising in Britain; Figure 8Inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient; Figure 9Inequality as measured by the difference between the 90th and 10th percentile; Why inequality rose in the 1980s; Taxes, benefits and inequality; Inequality and recession

Figure 10Incomes of retired and non-retired householdsThe one per cent; 10Inequality is the cause of health and social problems; Selection bias; Figure 11Gross national income and self-reported happiness; Figure 12Inequality and life expectancy (Spirit Level countries); Figure 13Inequality and life expectancy (with missing countries included); Ignoring outliers; Figure 14Inequality and homicides per 100,000; Dismissal of economic growth as a factor; Figure 15Inequality and self-reported trust; Figure 16Gross national income and self-reported happiness; Ignoring history; Mechanisms

Selective criteriaFigure 17Inequality and heart disease mortality (per 100,000); Figure 18Inequality and per capita cinema attendance; Figure 19Inequality and faith in God; Figure 20Inequality and The Economist's Quality of Life index; Consensus?; The panacea temptation; Why inequality?; Conclusion; 11If you're born poor, you die poor; Absolute and relative mobility; Table 1Relative mobility in the UK; Towards a meritocracy; Conclusion; References; Blank Page; About the IEA

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