hey ya'll i need your help on my Utopia project...trying ta create a perfect society based on the following questions ...itz kinda long but i just need some idea on how to work on it
thanks
ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
Now you are ready to describe some of the key economic institutions of your utopia and the role that they may play in the functioning of your ideal economy. Certainly one important consideration is that the size of your economic institutions ought to be consistent with the physical size and population of your utopia. A large utopia will probably require a large government structure. Here are some other questions and considerations that you may want to address in your utopia:
1. Financial and Monetary System: What is the nature of your banking system? Is it composed of a few large banks with many branches or is it a system of many small banks with few branches? What are money assets of the economy? Is the money a commodity money or fiat money? Who controls the money supply (market, banks, government, supply of commodities, central bank)? Do you have a central bank? If so, how independent is it from the influence of the government, the public, and the banking system?
2. Legal System: Is there private property in your utopia? How extensive is this private property? Who owns the means of production (capitalists, workers, the state, or some combination of those entities)? These questions about the ownership of private property will have a large impact later on the question of the distribution of income within your utopian economy. How enforceable are any private property rights for both physical and intellectual property? What is the role of the courts as defenders of private property? In prior years in the US, the courts have used the concept of private property to defend slavery and the rights of businesses to break up unions.
3. Economic Role of Government: In terms of government spending, what percentage of total spending in your utopia is done by the government? On what types of goods, services, and transfer payments (military, infrastructure, social programs, etc.) does government spend its money? How many different levels of government do you have in your utopia and what is the relative size and spending of each level? Does your government provide many public goods? If so, what types? Does the government use its powers to redistribute income? Does your utopian government have a role in anti-monopoly regulation?
In terms of government taxation, what types of taxes are used by your government? Is your tax structure proportional, progressive, or regressive? Is your system of taxes based on the ability to pay justification or the benefits received justification?
Looking at the overall economic role of your government, does it make your utopia a command economy, a free market economy, or a mixed economy?
4 Labor Market: Does the functioning of your utopia's labor market emphasize specialization and the division of labor or self-sufficiency? Will your economy have unions? Will they be mandatory or voluntary or forbidden? Will you have worker co-ops, labor-management teams, or quality circles? How much ownership and control will workers exercise over their place of employment?
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
The next step in building your utopia is to consider what types of social institutions should characterize your world. Below are some questions and considerations that you should address:
1. What is the political structure in your utopia? Who are the leaders and how are they selected? How many different layers of government exist? The political structure must somehow relate to the economic structure to be developed later. For example, does democracy require a capitalist economy? Is communism incompatible with democracy?
2. What is the educational system of your utopia? In this area, the choices that you make now will be critical. The amount and quality of education that you select will help determine the prospects for economic growth and the distribution of income in your economy. Indeed one of the major factors in explaining the current distribution of income in the US today is the level of education and the resulting degree of comfort with technology. How much education is mandatory? How will it be financed? What gets taught (practical skills, liberal arts, etc.)?
3. What are the dominant values of the culture in your utopia? As with Smith, Veblen, and others, the cultural values of greed and charity can determine the workings of the economic system. Adam Smith was able to discover how private greed can lead to public virtue through the workings of the invisible hand. Veblen was able to show how some other cultural values can shape the behavior of the leisure and the business class.
4. What is the role of art and music in your utopia? Although both may be considered to be leisure activities, almost every society in every time has had a role for these skills. Will you have an artist class? If so, how will it be funded? Will you stress wide participation in these activities? Will art and music challenge or defend the current culture in your economy?
5. What will be the role of religion in your ideal society? Will your society be based on specific religious teachings? In the past religion has played a key role in the development of an economy. For example, it is quite clear that the rise of the Protestant work ethic was critical in the progress of the Industrial Revolution. Yet it may be that religion is a kind of two-edged sword since communism has been embraced by both the earliest Christians and atheistic Marxists. The view one adopts of humankind can shape the parameters of the economy. Does religion affirm or attack the dominant views of society?
6. What is the system of marriage and family in your utopia? As we read Heilbroner, we noted the important role that demographics and population dynamics played in the prospects of an economy. The views of Malthus are just one example of this influence. In modern times, the role of demographics in the rise of the Indian and Chinese economies has been critical. Also note the role that the demographics of an aging society have played in the recent troubles of the Japanese economy.
