Capitalism doesn’t seem to be valued as strongly as it once was. We hear that businesses should exist to benefit society. Instead of embracing capitalism, we should apparently support a toned-down “conscious capitalism.” Students are encouraged to start careers as social entrepreneurs, where their work not only provides them a way of life, but also directly helps others. While I fully support any business or individual with altruistic goals and motives, I also recognize the value of capitalism, making a profit and working strictly to maximize your income.
As a business student, I am frequently exposed to the business school and university’s apparent values of conscious capitalism and social entrepreneurship. In one of my classes, students were encouraged to develop a business idea which included a “giving component.” An example of such a business is TOMS shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to people in need around the world for every pair of shoes purchased. They are definitely a great company, but they are still for-profit.This means that they charge the customer for more than it costs to produce two pairs of shoes. A shoe company without a giving component to their business would be able to charge the customer for slightly more than the cost of producing one shoe, and the customer would have money left over to donate to international aid efforts.
Having a “giving component“ in your for-profit business has no advantage. Development in third-wold countires is not a result of these business models. There are many other factors that go into development, and these cannot all be created by the “giving components” of these major company.
Businesses that focus solely on profit maximization are great as well. They function within our capitalistic economic system, which raises standards of living and creates better and more efficient products and services. A business or individual is doing nothing wrong by being profitable instead of charitable.
Just as it is completely acceptable and societally beneficial for a business to focus exclusively on profit, it is also acceptable for a person’s career to center around maximizing income. Society tends to somewhat stigmatize working just for money. We hear that people should want to work in a way that helps the world. While I believe any job “helps the world” in some way, most people probably think of work that is generous or altruistic, not work like that of Martin Shkreli—the pharmaceutical executive who focuses on raising drug prices to generate extra revenue to be directed toward research. Very few of us will be as infamous as Shkreli or face such an ethical career dilemma, but it is still worth thinking about our future careers.
I am majoring in finance and math in hopes of working in the financial industry, perhaps as a quantitative analyst or hedge fund analyst. Jobs like these and jobs in the financial industry in general are not well-regarded. At worst, many people think of Wall Street as a collection of greedy companies and heartless employees dedicated to destroying the economy for personal gain. At best, the industry is seen as a bunch of people who make money for themselves and their clients without caring about conscious capitalism, social entrepreneurship or having a “giving component” to their business.
This description is accurate. All I will be doing is making money for me, my company and my clients if I have them. I won’t be doing anything charitable through work, and I don’t have a problem with that. Like most people, I have altruistic goals, but I will work to accomplish those outside of work. Achieving financial independence by focusing exclusively on maximizing income could also help me get to a point where I can work on whatever goal I have. Separating work from charity and giving is just as effective as integrating the two.
Individuals and businesses should feel free to integrate charity and giving into their work, but those who are focused solely on making a profit or maximizing their income shouldn’t feel bad either. We should be more willing to admit that we are working to maximize profit and income—this is exactly what I will be doing. I know that I can be charitable and work on altruistic goals outside of my job, and I know that companies make profit by serving their customers and generating value. We don’t have to tone down capitalism to benefit the world, nor do we have to become social entrepreneurs. Profit and income maximization promotes economic growth and societal prosperity just as much as anything else.
Tim is majoring in finance and math. Do you think it is important to give back through your profession? Is working just for the money acceptable? Let us know at opinion@dailycardinal.com.
