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CHAPTER II

ECONOMIC DESIRES

Desires as motives. The purpose of economy is to enable us to secure the fullest possible satisfaction of our desires. The more desires we can satisfy, or the fewer we leave unsatisfied, the more prosperous we become. These economic desires, moreover, furnish the constant motives to economic action, though they are supplemented by instincts, impulses, and other motives not so well understood.

The need of an adequate motive. Whenever a new enterprise is proposed, whether in the field of business, politics, education, or philanthropy, one of the first questions that ought to be asked, after ascertaining that the purpose of the enterprise is a worthy one, is, Where is the motive? or, Who has a sufficient motive for carrying it on? Many an excellent plan-excellent in other respects-has failed merely because no one had a sufficient motive for spending the vast amount of time and energy necessary to make it succeed. New enterprises have to be nursed along and coaxed into success; and no one will take the necessary pains unless he has a powerful and persistent motive. Sudden enthusiasms are soon spent, even the pleasure of doing something new wears out when the enterprise ceases to be new. Some motive is needed that does not wear out but renews itself every day. Physical wants have this quality, because the human body requires constant supplies of goods.

Transitory motives. Many of our impulsive and instinctive actions are desultory because as motives they are easily satisfied and are not self-renewing. Every spring, about the time the frost is out of the ground, nearly every man feels an impulse to dig. It seems as natural for him to dig at that time of the year as for the sap to run, the crocuses to push upward, geese to fly

northward, or boys to play marbles. But this impulse is soon satisfied; and, unless some other and more persistent motive begins to function, every man will begin soon to neglect the garden so heroically begun. Many other impulses or instincts are about as ineffective as this one as motives for the continuous toil and taking of pains that are necessary in modern production.

Kinds of desires. There are at least three kinds of selfrenewing desires that play an important part in our economic life or that supply us with motives for economic action-the desire for action, the desire for esteem, and the desire for material goods. All three show themselves very early in the lives of children and remain with them as long as they are in the land of the living. They function continuously and persistently as motives; they do not wear out, but drive us all the time. They may seem like selfish desires; but even benevolence is likely to take the form of desiring one or more of these things for others. The sympathetic person who enters into the thoughts and feelings of others, realizing that they desire these three things, is very likely to desire that they should have them.

Desire for action. The desire for action results in play; but there is an element of play in many kinds of work. In general, play may be defined as any action which is itself so pleasurable as to provide a sufficient motive. Frequently, however, the desire for esteem adds to the strength of the motive for play, especially when a popular game furnishes an opportunity for the exhibition of prowess. Even the desire for pecuniary gain has been known to enter in; but this is generally considered bad sportsmanship. Work may be defined in general as any action which requires some other reward than the pleasure of the action. This does not mean that there is no pleasure whatever in the action which we call work. It means simply that the play motive is not the only motive, generally not the chief motive, and sometimes, in the case of disagreeable work, no motive at all. Work, like play, is sometimes done partly to win the esteem of others. It is frequently done with that desire as

one of the subordinate motives, but generally it is done for the purpose of gaining a reward in the form of material goods.

Desire for esteem. The desire for esteem or for the good opinion, the praise, and the admiration of others is as genuine a motive for action as either of the other kinds of desire. It is in some cases the sole motive for action; but it is generally found working in combination with one or both of the others. As stated above, it is sometimes one of the motives to play. Even what appears to be the desire for material wealth is frequently in part a desire to achieve social esteem by means of material possessions. A woman's desire for finery is not solely nor usually due to her appreciation of the things themselves. It is generally and mainly a desire to be thought well of. The same may be said of a man's desire for those strange things which he so solemnly wears on state occasions when he takes himself seriously. The desire to make an impression upon others enters into his appreciation of a great many things besides clothes. It is an element in his desire for fine houses, trains of servants, costly equipages, and many other expensive things which add very little to comfort or well-being.

Desire for material goods. Even when the desire for esteem seems the chief desire there is usually found a mixture of the others. The politician's desire for popularity is not in every case free from the desire for the salaries and other emoluments of office. Nor is the actor's desire for applause always free from the subconscious feeling that popular esteem may be followed by an enlarged income.

Importance of balanced desires. While it is possible to discuss these three kinds of desire separately, yet, as a matter of fact, they are likely to be mixed in varying proportions in every individual case. It is probably better economically that they should be thus mixed and that no one kind of desire should exclude or predominate over the others. When this happens we are likely to have an unbalanced individual, of very little use to himself or anybody else. The one who cares inordinately for action, with very little regard for social esteem or for the

material rewards of productive labor, is likely to waste his life in strenuous adventure, even if he does not become a criminal. The individual who cares inordinately for the esteem or admiration of others, with very little desire for action or for the material rewards of productive effort, is likely to be vain, effeminate, and weak even if he does not become a poseur, who tries to attract attention to himself by striking strange attitudes, saying weird things, or espousing strange causes. The individual who cares inordinately for material goods, with no liking for action or for the good opinion of his fellows, is likely to become hard, grasping, and miserly. Which of these three unbalanced individuals is the most undesirable would be hard to decide.

So far as the nature of a man's desires can make him useful economically it is probable that the most useful man is the one in whom all these three kinds of desire are strongest, provided there be a proper balance among them. The man who loves action intensely, who at the same time desires intensely that his fellow men should think well of him, and who has also an intense desire for an abundance of goods for himself and for those for whom he cares, will certainly be an energetic, neighborly, and, so far as his physical and mental powers will enable him to be, a productive individual.

Satiability of desire. When we come to consider desires separately and to compare them one with another, we find that they have certain things in common which are of the utmost importance to the student of economics. To begin with, all desires are satiable.

Desire in general may or may not be satiable-that is no concern of the economist; but the specific desire for any specific thing may be completely satisfied or satiated if the thing desired can be had in sufficient abundance. Many desirable things are to be had in sufficient abundance. In the case of air, for example, though it is a vital necessity, yet there is so much of it, except in crowded, poorly ventilated rooms, that everyone can have all he can possibly use. Under such circumstances no one

has any desire for more nor any motive for action looking to an increase of the supply. In a crowded room, or anywhere else where there is not enough, someone who desires more will have a motive to action, even if the action consists in nothing more than opening a window.

The desire for air, however, does not differ in this respect from the desire for anything else. When it is fully satisfied or satiated it ceases to be a motive for action. So long as it is unsatisfied it is a motive for action. In other words, if there is enough of the object desired to satisfy everybody, no one is likely to bestir himself to try to produce more, even if he knew how to do so. If there is not enough of anything there is a motive for action looking to an increase of production, and if production is possible an industry is likely to come into existence.

Unsatisfied desires as spurs to action. Not only is every desire satiable, but we observe as a part of our own experience and our observation of others that the more nearly a desire comes to being satisfied the weaker it becomes and the weaker the motive to action. Conversely, the further it is from being satisfied the stronger it is and the more powerful the motive to action. This is a physiological fact, which if anyone cares to dispute it, he can test by experimenting on himself, or merely by thinking about his own everyday experiences as they come to him. The hungrier a boy is for apples, the more powerful the temptation to acquisitive action. In the process of consumption the first apple is likely to taste a little better than the second, the second than the third, and so on, until eventually, if the supply of apples holds out, he may reach a point where an additional apple will add nothing whatever to his comfort or pleasure. This is true of every desire in the whole range of human interests.

Care must be taken, however, to avoid shifting the attention from one desire to another. The desire for wealth in general is sometimes said to be insatiable. Even if this were true, as it probably is not, it would not refute the proposition that any

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