I believe “economics” is the scientific study of how the world works notwithstanding one’s ideology.
“Capitalism” works, however imperfectly, because it allows for the reality that people are primarily motivated by what they perceive to be their self interest, i.e. one can expect to keep a reasonable share of the fruit of their productive activity.
“Socialism” fails because it attempts to break the connection between one’s productive activity and their share in the fruit of their productive activity.
In that sense, the repeated failures of “socialism” come about because of “Galtism,” i.e. the tendency of productive people to respond rationally to having the fruit of their productive activity confiscated by the socialistic thieves.
For some reason, many people are inclined to believe that productive people will work just as hard, get up just as early, invest just as much, and take the same risks, no matter what they recieve in return.
It’s hard for me to believe that people could be that stupid.
