College of Business Administration

1) Offer a reasoned criticism of Milton Friedman's arguments as outlined in The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits

or

2) In `The Capitalist Threat', George Soros points out that...

The main scientific underpinning of the laissez-faire ideology is the theory that free and competitive markets bring supply and demand into equilibrium and thereby ensure the best allocation of resources. This is widely accepted as an eternal verity, and in a sense it is one. Economic theory is an axiomatic system: as long as the basic assumptions hold, the conclusions follow. But when we examine the assumptions closely, we find that they do not apply to the real world.

Identify the assumptions underlying the free-market model, and assess whether or not these assumptions hold in the 'real' world. To the extent they do not, outline recommendations which would serve to correct for the negative consequences of these inaccurate assumptions.