Right to Liberty

• Liberty


  Freedom, a fundamental right of an individual
• Aspects of liberty covered by the Bill of Rights

  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom of expression
  • Freedom of the press
  • Right to assembly
  • Right to petition
• Freedom of speech, expression, and press

  • Covers verbal pronouncements, protests, publications, mass media
  • Allows communication of viewpoints without fear of reprisal as long as it does not infringe on legal and others' rights
• Right of assembly


  • Allows individuals to freely gather and express ideas about public concerns without fear of being branded as troublemakers
• Right of petition


  • Allows individuals or groups to ask the government to correct a wrong, seek assistance, or file for redress of grievances without fear of reprisal
• The rights are not unlimited and are subject to regulation by the state
• Clear and present danger rule

  Allows forfeiture of right to liberty if exercise of right presents a degree of danger which would result in a considerable evil to society and the threat is existent and at hand
• When analysing markets, a range of assumptions are made about the rationality of economic agents involved in the transactions
• The Wealth of Nations was written

  1776
• Rational


  (in classical economic theory) economic agents are able to consider the outcome of their choices and recognise the net benefits of each one
• Rational agents will select the choice which presents the highest benefits
• Consumers act rationally by


  Maximising their utility
• Producers act rationally by


  Selling goods/services in a way that maximises their profits
• Workers act rationally by


  Balancing welfare at work with consideration of both pay and benefits
• Governments act rationally by


  Placing the interests of the people they serve first in order to maximise their welfare
• Rationality in classical economic theory is a flawed assumption as people usually don't act rationally
• Marginal utility


  The additional utility (satisfaction) gained from the consumption of an additional product
• If you add up marginal utility for each unit you get total utility