Greed and the Market

John Meadowcroft

Chapter 1 in Greed, 2009, pp 5-20 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the 1987 Oliver Stone-directed movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas portrays Gordon Gekko, a ‘corporate raider’ who specialises in taking-over firms and then asset-stripping them. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, Gekko attempts to persuade a meeting of shareholders to sell out to him with the promise of large financial rewards. Gekko encourages the shareholders to think only of their own pecuniary gain, to act on the basis of personal greed: The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed — for lack of a better word — is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms — greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind.

Keywords: Social Capital; Market Price; Market Economy; Economic Freedom; Economic Affair (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-24615-7_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230246157_2

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